Baby Drowned in Bath While Teenager Used Computer: Police

A baby drowned in the tub after the mom reportedly left a teenager to supervise bath-time while she cooked dinner on Thursday evening.

The tragedy unfolded at the home in southwest Houston, Texas, when the 14-year-old left the room to use the computer and reportedly became so distracted they forgot about the infant as the water continued running. It was only when the mother went to check on the baby that she found her child unresponsive in the overflowing tub and frantically called 911.

Drowning is the number one cause of unintentional death for children aged 1-4 in the U.S., and it's the second-most common cause of unintentional death for children aged 5-14 after car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The baby's death in Houston this week follows a spate of similar tragedies across the country.

Police and paramedics raced to the apartment building in the 6300 block of W. Bellfort near Bob White Drive at 6:38 p.m. but the baby could not be saved. The infant was later declared dead at the Texas Children's Hospital.

Homicide detectives from Houston Police Department have opened a case, but the early stages of their investigation suggest that the horrifying events were simply a tragic accident, according to local news station ABC 13.

Further details about the case are sparse, and the gender and age of the baby have not been released, although ABC 13 quoted unnamed police sources as saying the infant was under the age of 1. The gender of the 14-year-old is also unclear, and it is not yet known whether the teenager was a sibling or related in some way to the younger child.

Newsweek has reached out to Houston Police Department by email for further information and comment.

A child safety expert has previously spoken out about the dangers of drowning, with Injury Prevention Coordinator for Trauma at OU Health Laura Gamino telling Fox 25: "Anything can happen in an instant[...]Drowning is very sudden, and it's very silent. Sometimes people have an idea that a child will have trouble in the water and be screaming, but they can't because their mouth is full of water. So it's very silent, and that's one of the scariest things about it."

The case follows comes within months of a similar tragedy in a Texas home, after a 9-year-old boy drowned while taking a shower. He was found unresponsive by his grandfather back in September.

A Florida mom was arrested after leaving her 7-month-old in the bath while she went to get a manicure nearby. The mom, 22, said she thought the baby was safe because the drainplug was missing—but later discovered a towel had clogged the drain allowing the tub to continue filling. She was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child under 18 in May 2022.

A Tennessee grandmother was also charged last summer after she took a bath with her 5-month-old granddaughter and fell asleep, waking to find the baby had drowned.

While twin toddlers drowned together in their family's swimming pool back in March in Oklahoma City. The 18-month-old brother and sister were discovered in the water by a parent who tried to administer CPR but the children could not be saved.