Two young sisters have drowned on the grounds of their Long Island home. A search party found four-year-old Ruth Evangeline Gali and her two-year-old sister Selah Grace in a pond after their family called 911 to report them missing and asked friends to help look for the girls. Emergency personnel instructed callers on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the children were later rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Sudha Gali, the children’s mother, would not speak to the media, and reports indicate that her husband was in India struggling with visa issues and unable to travel to the United States. Neighbors told journalists that Sudha Gali had put the girls down for a nap before falling asleep herself and waking up to find her children gone. A spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police Department, however, contradicted that account and said the girls’ mother was not sleeping.
A neighbor, Marge Baldi, told reporters that the family had a secure gate installed between their home and the nearby pond, and she had never seen any indicator that the girls were not well cared for. “I’ve never seen the children left unattended,” she said. Her 14-year-old daughter Bella was one of those who attempted CPR on the children and explained how frightened and panicked people were, but she decided to step up and try to revive the girls but immediately found there was no pulse.
Friends say the family is devastated, and the parents have been left childless. Marge Baldi said, “I can’t imagine anything worse.” The local community has rallied around the family, and a nearby church raised more than $100,000 to help fund travel expenses for their father to the US to be with his wife, and to ease any financial concerns.
The US Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that the number of children drowning in the United States is rising and increased by 12% between 2020 and 2021. The organization notes that children under five are the most vulnerable age group and that 81% of drownings occur near the home. Recommendations to parents include keeping an eye on the kids, teaching them to swim, installing barriers and fences, and installing one of several new pool alarm facilities available on the market.
