Girl, 6, Saved From Drowning in Laguna Niguel Condo Pool

A 6-year-old girl is expected to recover after she was pulled unconscious from the bottom of a Laguna Niguel pool Saturday, moments after her mother left her swimming under the watch of a friend, officials said.

Raven Etheridge was playing in the crowded pool of a condominium complex when she “got into trouble” and sank to the bottom of the pool, officials said. A neighbor who is a registered nurse performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the child.

Paramedics took Etheridge to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where she was under observation Saturday evening. An Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the child is expected to recover.

The incident is a reminder that children playing in and around water need extra supervision, officials said.

“Public pools are typically unsupervised, do not have a lifeguard and have lots of people,” Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority said. “It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.”

Brown said Etheridge is the fifth near-drowning victim in Orange County this year. “The single most important line of defense against this sort of thing happening is the eye of a parent, a caregiver, whoever is assigned to watch the water,” Brown said. “Somehow in this case that chain of defense was broken.”