The 2-year-old girl who drowned on a Central Southland farm on Tuesday evening is the third Southland child to die in a water-related incident on a rural property in the past seven months.
The girl was found in a duck pond on the farm at Otapiri, near Winton, about 8.40pm. Police and volunteer firefighters began CPR but were unable to revive her.
Last week, Charlie John Vercoe (6), of Invercargill, died after the quad bike he was driving rolled on a farm at Lorneville, on the outskirts of the city, and landed in a water-filled ditch. He was taken to Southland Hospital where he later died.
In June last year, Charlie Aaron Unwin (2), of Mandeville, near Gore, was found by a family member in a rubbish hole near his house which had filled with rainwater.
Police were investigating Tuesday's tragic event on behalf of the coroner, Western Southland sub-area commander Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley, of Winton, said yesterday.
''We don't anticipate releasing the name today as the next of kin still need to notified.''
Police were called to the farm about 7.30pm. The girl had been missing for one hour and family and farm workers had been searching for her. Six police units attended immediately, along with the Browns Volunteer Fire Brigade and St John staff from Winton.
Browns Chief Fire Officer Ian Lindsay said the death had come as a shock to the tight-knit rural community.
''Naturally, they [the firefighters] were upset. Quite a few have young families themselves too and it makes everything pretty sombre.''
Mr Lindsay said it was rare for such incidents to occur in the area and described it as ''one of those sad, tragic things that happen''.
A health and safety inspector from Crown agency WorkSafe NZ, which investigates workplace incidents, visited the site with police yesterday afternoon but it was not known yet whether WorkSafe would launch an investigation, chief inspector Alan Cooper said yesterday.
Whether the drowning was considered a workplace event was one of the issues which had to be considered before a decision was made, he said.
Mr Cooper said fencing of farm ponds and waterways was not necessarily required by law.
''Farms are workplaces and, as such, are subject to the provisions of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. This requires that hazards in a workplace must be identified and plans to either eliminate, isolate of minimise them must be implemented.
''Methods of achieving this are not specified, but managing the hazards appropriately is mandatory. Fencing is not a requirement in all situations.''
Those in charge of farms must put safety first for every person on the farm, including children, he said.
New Zealand's annual drowning toll is one of the worst in the developed world with an average of 110 people drowning annually over the past five years. Six preschoolers had drowned in ponds since 2009, Water Safety New Zealand said.
A comprehensive survey of farm safety carried out by the University of Otago's Injury Prevention Research Unit in 2008 and 2009 showed farming families often had an ''exaggerated idea'' of the skills and abilities of their children.
Children under 5 were riding on quad bikes and farm vehicles as passengers and those aged 5-9 were regularly operating quad bikes and motorcycles, playing near machinery and using firearms.
But associate professor of occupational health at Otago Dr David McBride, who was involved with the survey, said yesterday cases of very young children drowning on farms were in a different category and a ''terrible tragedy'' for families.
''Water on farms is a hazard for very young children, just as it is on the beach or at the river.
''Two-year-olds are very quick ... and don't have the same perception of danger as older children. You really have got to watch them around water and closely supervise them.''
Federated Farmers health and safety spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell said water safety was an important issue for all families, not just on farms.
''It doesn't have to be very deep at all - water is always a hazard,'' she said.
- allison.rudd@alliedpress.co.nz
- Additional reporting by APNZ.
