3-year-old, Elijah Marsh was found frozen to death near his home in Toronto, shortly after the young boy stepped out from his home and wandered into the freezing weather conditions. Unfortunately the kid was pronounced dead shortly after authorities located him about 1,000 feet away from his family’s apartment where according to reports, he may have spent up to six hours in frigid temperatures. The police looked into surveillance footage showing Elijah leaving the home at about 4:05 a.m. when the rest of his family were asleep, wearing only a diaper, T-shirt and boots.
Several members of the community volunteered to help find the boy when he was declared initially missing, and the whole town residents were thrown into a mourning state when the news was broken that Elijah was gone.
We regret to announce that 3yr old #Elijah has died. Our
thoughts are with his family and all affected by this tragedy #PrayForElijah ^sm
— Toronto
Police (@TorontoPolice) February 19, 2015
According to the New York Daily News reports, even the Police wept as they carried the boy’s body to an ambulance. Pratatban Thurairajah, one of the volunteers who assisted in the search for the boy after hearing about the incident on radio said: “I decided to come down to look for him, trying to find him,”….. “I wanted to find the boy — trying to do my part.”
Meanwhile, a crowd-funding site has been set up to help the family with funeral costs and so far, a surprisingly amount of $173,000 has been gathered in donations from more than 3,000 people!
Well, this is yet another incident that tragically reminds us of the unpredictability of toddlers and the precautions that must be taken by parents to secure the house, such as having a security alarm on all doors, which requires the use of an access code for disarming the door for entry and exit purposes.
