JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - An 18-month-old southwest Missouri girl is dead after wandering away from her baby sitter and falling into a floor-level hot tub.
The Joplin Globe (http://bit.ly/1LD339j) reports a friend of the Joplin toddler's parents was babysitting Monday afternoon when she left the girl alone for a moment in another room. After returning and finding the girl was gone, the baby sitter searched the house and found her in the hot tub.
Emergency responders were unable to resuscitate the child.
Newton County coroner Mark Bridges says the death has been ruled an accidental drowning.