At least once a month, the rescuers are alerted about cases of blocking of unsupervised children in the house or apartment. The children aged two to five remain blocked most often. Eleven blocked children have been saved so far this year, IPN reports.
Liliana Puscasu, head of the press service of the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service, has told IPN that the rescuers are alerted by parents or grandparents, who call 901 and ask to unblock the door. The grownups go out, while the children close the doors behind them while playing and can no longer open them.
Liliana Puscasu said the rescuers intervene promptly in such cases and open the doors in several minutes. In some of the cases, they go in through the window. Most of the times, after the rescuers unblock the doors, the children are found sleeping or playing. But there are cases that have negative repercussions for the child.
The parents and persons looking after minors are urged not to leave them unsupervised in the house so as to avoid dangerous situations.
Pediatrician Eva Gudumac, head of the Pediatric Surgery Division of the Mother and Child Center, said the dwellings are full of dangers and the tragedies are inevitable when the children are left unsupervised. The kids are very curious and any object in their way can endanger their lives, including a kitchen knife, a simple box of matches, a nail or a bottle with a chemical substance.
The children who remain alone often climb the chairs, tables, cupboards and break their legs or arms when they fall down. There were cases when the children pulled onto them nightstands with TV sets or other heavy objects on them. Some of them ended fatally.
Eva Gudumac said in a case, a child suffered first-degree burns and remained with an ugly scar when a TV set started to burn not far from him. The stoves and receptacles can also pose threats to kids. “The child should be never left alone in the house,” stated the doctor.
