A child younger than five almost daily remains alone in the apartment with the entrance door blocked. This happens after the grownup goes out and the door closes as a result of a current or the child closes it himself when playing with the lock. The rescuers, who intervene in most of the cases, warn the parents that such situations are very dangerous for the life and health of the child because the kids do not realize the dangers to which they are exposed in the home.
According to the Civil Protection and Emergencies Service, 63 families so far this year needed the assistance of rescuers to unblock the entrance door with the child being alone inside. Four such cases happened during one day recently. In one of the cases, a child aged one year and six months remained blocked inside, with the stove working in the kitchen. The rescuers managed to prevent a tragedy.
Deputy head of the Unblocking Rescuing Service No. 1 Sergiu Babanuta has told IPN that there were cases when a child who remained at home alone got electrocuted from the iron. In most of the cases, the grownups do not accept blame, saying they went out for a few seconds only, either to talk to a neighbor on the stair or to take the garbage out, or to do something else. There are cases when the door closes automatically because there is a current. However, most of the times the children lock the door themselves, when they remain home alone, and then cannot open it. The children do not realize the dangers existing in the home and can touch sockets or domestic appliances and can play with matches. When seeing that they are home alone, the children often go to the window and even try to go out through it and the dangers in such cases are very serious.
Specialists warn the adults not to leave the children unsupervised and recommend seeking help immediately in such cases on 901, 902 and 903. Until the rescuers arrive, they should be permanently in contact with the children, talking to them nicely and not scolding or threatening them. It is also recommended placing the locks up and keeping the keys away from children.
Information about how the child can be protected in different situations can be found on the website www.parinti.md that was launched within the project “Regionalization of Emergency and Intensive Care Pediatric Services in Moldova”. During six years, the project, in cooperation with the authorities, informed the parents about the measures that should be taken to prevent home accidents involving children under five within the campaign “A danger-free home for your child!”
