5-year-old dies after being pulled from retention pond while on vacation

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) – A 5-year-old died while on vacation after being pulled from a retention pond near Surfside Beach in South Carolina Thursday night.

Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said the child was visiting from the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Horry County Fire Rescue responded just before 7:30 p.m. to the scene at the 200 block of Presidential Drive, bringing a dive team and drone team.

EMS took the boy to the hospital, where he died Thursday night, Willard said.

Horry County Police Department also responded to the scene for what it called a “possible drowning” in its report.

Police have not released any information about moments leading up to the suspected drowning, but some neighbors said the death could have been prevented, had there just been a fence to protect him.

“It’s a big dip and little children are just going to slip and fall in the water and whatever. It’s sad but not overly surprising, which is the worst part of all that something would happen like that to a small child,” said Christine Sosnowicz.

A group of neighbors are pushing for more fences to be installed around ponds in the neighborhood to hopefully prevent an incident like this from happening again.

“It broke my heart. I think they should have a fence,” said Cindy Simper.

HCPD is the agency investigating the death, according to Willard.

An autopsy will confirm the cause of death of the child.