Child vanished at Maine beach because parent was too busy scrolling on phone

Fire crews have issued a stern warning to parents after a child went missing on Mother’s Beach in Maine while their parent was to distracted by their mobile phone to notice

The parent of a child who went missing on a beach has been given a stern warning after being distracted by their phone at the time.

The worrying incident occured at Mother’s Beach in the coastal town of Kennebunkport on Monday. The child, who has not been named, briefly went missing while their caregiver was distracted by their phone, according to an announcement from Kennebunk Fire-Rescue posted on Facebook.

The fire department said that the child was reunited with their parent after authorities located the youngster in “a completely different beach area.”

The post reads: “A Reminder to Parents and Caregivers: Phones Down. Eyes Up.

“Many of you became aware of the missing child incident at Mother’s Beach today. Thankfully, the child was located safely and reunited with their caregiver. However, this was a very preventable incident and an important reminder for everyone responsible for children around the water.

“When you are at the beach, pool, lake, or anywhere near the water with a child, put the phone down and keep your eyes up. Active supervision means maintaining constant awareness of where your child is and what they are doing.

“In today’s incident, the child had travelled into a completely different beach area from where the caregiver was located. After the child was safely reunited with the caregiver, our personnel observed the caregiver immediately return their attention to their phone. A stern warning was given regarding the seriousness of what had occurred and the caregiver’s responsibility to actively supervise the child.

“We also want to emphasize that situations like this are extremely unfair to our Ocean Guards. Our guards are there to protect everyone using our beaches—they are not babysitters and cannot replace parental or caregiver supervision.

“Our Ocean Guards are responsible for continuously scanning large areas of water and beach, identifying swimmers in distress, recognizing changing surf and water conditions, providing emergency medical care, and responding to life-threatening emergencies. When a child is left inadequately supervised, guards may be forced to divert their attention and resources from those responsibilities to search for a child whose caregiver should know where they are.

“Lifeguards provide an incredibly important layer of protection, but their presence does not transfer the responsibility for supervising a child from the caregiver to the lifeguard.

“Drowning and other water-related emergencies can develop incredibly quickly and often without the yelling, splashing, or obvious signs people expect. That is why active, uninterrupted supervision is so important.

“Please help us protect your children and allow our Ocean Guards to protect everyone on our beaches: Phones down. Eyes up. Know where your children are at all times. A few seconds of distraction near the water can have lifelong consequences.”

Several people thanked Kennebunk Fire-Rescue for its announcement in the comments of the Facebook post and expressed anger at parents getting distracted by their phones.

One user commented: “Very well said, I do believe we should push for beaches being cell phone zone free”, another said: “Why go to the beach and stare at your phone? I put my phone in my beach bag, I only check it when I want to see the time or get a picture.”