GRAPHIC CONTENT: Toddler drowns while mum TEXTS on mobile just yards away
HORRIFIC surveillance footage from a hot spring resort shows how a careless mum allowed her son to drown to death while she played on her mobile.
Horrific moment child drowns while mother texts nearby
The boy, aged just four, struggled for some three minutes inside the paddling pool at popular Spa World, part of the Ocean Spring Resort in Xiangyang City in Shaanxi, north-western China, where the victim and his sister had been taken by their mother, whose surname is Xiao.
Surveillance footage shows the boy, just 13 feet from his mum, walking from the pool's shallow end to the middle, where he quickly discovers his feet cannot touch the bottom.
He had been playing by the one foot shallow section, which is separated from the larger area by just one low wall.
Trapped near the 4-feet, 3-inch deep end, the boy kicks and struggles to keep himself afloat, while his mother continues to look at her mobile, completely oblivious to her son drowning right behind her.
Surveillance footage from a hot spring resort shows how a careless mum allowed her son to drown
The woman later realised her son was missing and went to staff for help.
They found the child in the pool 30 minutes later, already not breathing.
Authorities were called to the resort and pronounced the child dead at the scene.
The boy, aged just four, struggled for some three minutes inside the paddling pool
Reports citing police said he drowned at a depth of 3 feet 7 inches.
Spa World has been temporarily closed as a police investigation continues.