A frantic mum has issued a warning after her two-year-old son ‘disappeared’ under the water while playing on the beach area behind Margate Winter Gardens.
Jade Williams, her mum Anne and two boys Kayden, six, and Jay’me, two, had been for a walk this morning (June 15) to see which shops had reopened and decided to stroll along the beach.
By the bottom of the slipway the boys spotted a ‘large puddle’ of water and asked if they could get wet.
Jade, 27, said: “They were next to the puddle and running through it. Me and mum started slowly to walk and just as I turned around to say ‘come on’ because they weren’t following I saw Jay’me, one minute running and then the next minute he just disappeared under the water and then came back to the top floating face down.
“I could see his arms struggling to pull himself out and I just dropped everything and ran through the puddle and ended up going down up to my waist.
“I grabbed his arms, flipped him over and pulled him out. I was trying to get the water out of him and he was coughing and choking. I was so scared. A couple of seconds more and I might have lost him.”
Jade, who lives in Margate with the boys and her partner Martin, says a sign needs to be put up to warn people of the danger, either on the railings or painted on the slope.
She said: “It is so dangerous and since I put my post up (on facebook) today so many other people have said that it has happened to them to.
“Jay’me is fine now but I’m still trembling. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that.
“A bit of cardboard and some cable ties for a sign could save a life.”
Thanet council and Margate RNLI have been contacted to ask if signage can be put in place.
