Toddler drowns in backyard pool

A 2½-year-old boy has died in hospital after he was pulled from a backyard swimming pool in the east-end Ottawa suburb of Orleans on Wednesday morning.

Paramedics tried to revive the toddler, who had no vital signs when they arrived at a house in the Innes Road and 10th Line area. He was rushed to Ottawa's Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Paramedics confirmed the boy's death, as did Marc Potvin, a man who identified himself as the boy's uncle. Potvin said his nephew died shortly after he was brought to hospital.

The house where the child was found has a small above-ground pool and is home to a private daycare, according to parents who arrived to pick up their children.

Parents said a number of daycares and babysitters in the area often got together and had communal events, and that a number of children from the surrounding area were brought to the home.

The toddler was from an outside daycare, according to witnesses.

The Ottawa police crisis victim unit is still at the house.