Toddler dies in window blind cord tragedy

THE 14-month-old daughter of a heavily pregnant woman has died in Ireland’s latest window blind cord hanging tragedy.

Aida Foster lost her life last Saturday yards from her six months pregnant mother in the sitting room of the family home in Piltown, Co Kilkenny.

The toddler is understood to have become entangled in the chain of the window blind cord. Despite frantic efforts to save her, Aida was pronounced dead at Waterford Regional Hospital that afternoon.

Speaking on behalf of the family parish priest, Paschal Moore, said the local community was “in mourning over the loss”.

The incident, which has led to an outpouring of grief for parents Claire and Gerard Foster and their seven-year-old daughter, Rachel, came just over a year after a near identical tragedy in Cloneen, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.

On February 4, 2009, just 19 days before new EU-wide voluntary safety guidelines came into force, two-year-old Arran Malley lost his life while playing in an upstairs bedroom.

A high-profile coroners court case last July concluded the boy died from asphyxiation after he became entangled in a low-lying cord.

However, while it also recommended that existing voluntary standards be made mandatory, Arran’s father Shane said the call had yet to be fully acted on.

“When that happened to Arran we were hoping to get information on window blind dangers out to as many people as we could.

“Under the current guidelines anyone who supplies window blinds must supply them with a warning sign and a safety device. But that’s not technically a law. Some window blinds are safe, but some of the older ones absolutely are not. Even some of the newer ones which come with a safety clip for the cord are inadequate,” he said.

Mr Malley and his wife set up a website, www.windowblindsafety.ie to highlight which products pose a risk. He said his family’s thoughts were with the Fosters.

Since 2005, an average of three children have died in Ireland every year due to accidents involving window blind cords.

A similar number of tragedies have occurred in England, with three-year-old Harrison Joyce and 16-month-old Lillian Bagnall-Lambe both dying last month.

As a result of the latest death in this country, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has repeated its call for stringent safety measures concerning blind cords and roller blinds to be enforced.

The group’s chief executive, Maurice Buckley, said the death was “deeply saddening”.