Child Dies After Being Pulled From Water in Lauderdale Lakes

Jona Lilavois was flown to Broward General Medical Center

The little girl who was pulled out of a canal in Lauderdale Lakes Friday afternoon and flown to Broward General Medical Center has died, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Jachles said.

He said both parents of two-and-a-half-year-old Jona Lilavois were home at 3621 NW 23rd Court Friday when she disappeared. Her mother went out back to retrieve lemons from a tree and her father went to the restroom, but when they came back, their daughter was gone, Jachles said.

"Apparently the parents looked in the house, they searched, they tried to find the child," he told NBC Miami on the scene early Friday evening.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue and BSO deputies responded immediately after receiving a call about the missing child at 3:11 p.m., and a BSO K-9 bloodhound was key to finding the girl, Jachles said.

"The dog tracked all the way down the street, across the street, and into a nearby canal … the divers went into it, they immediately found the child,” and paramedics began resuscitation efforts, Jachles said.

About a half-dozen paramedics appeared to be working to revive the pulseless girl as she lay on some grass by the street.

At 4:55 p.m. they carried her body across a few hundred yards to an open clearing to load her onto a BSO helicopter, which took off four minutes later. But she died at the hospital just before 5:30 p.m., Jachles said.

BSO homicide detectives have determined that the family's front door was not secured and the child slipped out and wandered off before her apparent accidental drowing, Jachles said.

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