Valentina and Penelope Ruiz, 3 year old twin sisters drown in un-fenced West Phoenix backyard pool despite their father’s attempt to perform CPR. Twin girls had been in the water for an un-determined time before dad pulling them out.
A family is in mourning after an Arizona father came across the lifeless bodies of his 3 year old twin daughters after the two girls drowned at a backyard pool in West Phoenix.
Valentina and Penelope Ruiz were confirmed as the 3 year old twin girls who drowned despite their father’s valiant attempt to perform CPR and save their lives only for the girls to be officially confirmed dead at hospital soon after.
‘Preliminary information suggests that this incident is consistent with an accidental drowning,’ Phoenix Police said in a statement on Friday, one day after the tragedy.
‘Twins had been underwater for an undetermined amount of time’
‘At this time, there is nothing that investigators have found that appears suspicious.’
Both toddlers were in critical condition before police announced they had died.
Phoenix Fire Captain Rob McDade said the twin’s father was the one who called 911.
‘You can imagine what that would look like, how taxing that would be. A tremendous tragic scene,’ he said.
McDade added the toddlers were underwater for an ‘undetermined amount of time’ before help arrived about 3.30pm on Thursday. No foul play was determined.
First responders took less than three minutes to get to the home on 63rd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road and found family members administering CPR to the twins, AZFamily reported.
Aerial shots of the three-bedroom home showed a kidney-shaped pool that did not have fencing around it.
‘You can imagine what that would look like, how taxing that would be,’ McDade said to FOX10. ‘A tremendous tragic scene.’
According to the Children’s Safety Zone, in Maricopa and Pinal counties, 15 people have died from water-related incidents this year.
‘Remember a drowning is silent. Everybody thinks that you’re going to hear your child asking for help. It’s absolutely silent. So remember that. Again, it’s a tragic day. It is a tremendous loss for this family and for this community,’ Capt. McDade said.
