Child Dies After Getting Trapped Inside Running Washing Machine

A young child died after getting stuck inside a running washing machine at a home in New Zealand. The preschool-aged child was unresponsive when found by police.

The incident took place Friday at a home in Hoon Hay, a suburb of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, Stuff News reported. The gender of the child remains unknown.

"One person was injured and taken to hospital where they later died," a police spokesperson told the publication. Police were not suspecting any foul play.

Local councilor Melanie Coker called the incident "absolutely heartbreaking" and sent her condolences to the family of the victim.

In the U.S., as many as 3,000 emergency room visits related to washing machine accidents have been made since 2014, according to a report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The report came after a 3-year-old child in Orlando died after getting trapped inside a front-loading washer in August 2019.

Investigators said at the time that the child was playing with his younger sibling in the laundry room when he climbed inside the washing machine.

"At some point in that process, the door closed," Cory Burkarth of the Orlando Police Department said at the time, ABC-affiliated KLTV reported at the time. "Either he pulled it shut himself, maybe the sibling closed it. That’s something we’re still looking at. And so, what we're also looking at right now is, when that door closed, did it create an airtight seal and therefore deprive the child of oxygen?"

Burkarth added that at least one parent was at home when the tragedy occurred.

"It's critical that parents explain to their young children that appliances are not toys, and that they can be dangerous... It's equally important to point out any potential dangers to anyone watching your children while you're away," the report said at the time. "Remember that young kids are at a developmental stage that makes them especially curious."

Urging parents to keep an eye on children to avoid such incidents, Ben Hoffman, a pediatrician in Portland and the chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, said, "The job of a child between ages 1 and 4 is to explore and to find out how the world works... They're curiosity machines, and by nature, impulsive."