A 23-month-old child drowned Friday in a private pond in Long County, according to Long County Emergency Management Agency Director Bob Heffley.
At 4 p.m., authorities received a call about a possible drowning on Plantation Road in the Sandhills community. When first responders arrived, Serenity Waller’s mother had pulled her from the pond and an off-duty volunteer firefighter had started CPR. EMTs treated the child as she was driven to Liberty Regional Medical Center, where treatment continued. Eventually, the child was pronounced dead, according to Heffley.
The girl’s mother told authorities said she’d been watching her daughter but lost sight of her. She began to search and found the girl floating in the pond.
Heffley said the pond is about 50 feet from the woman’s home.