A family in the US have released a terrifying video of their son silently strangling on a window blind cord, 10 years after the dramatic incident happened.
Gavin Walla was a toddler when he almost choked to death after strangling on a window blind cord. The horrifying incident was captured in a home video shot by his mum, Nicky, when she was filming Gavin and his two brothers playing in their living room.
It was only when Nicky turned to pick up the phone that she noticed Gavin was standing still in the corner with the cord around his neck. As she sees her son not breathing and fighting for his life, she drops the camera to untangle him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvcP5QxJyMs
As the video carries on after she drops the camera, Gavin's parents' desperation can be heard clearly. Whilst Nicky screams 'He choked himself! He's blue!' as she calls for an ambulance, her husband Nate can be heard shouting his son's name as he tries to ressuscitate him.
The incident was revealed by ABC News in a new investigation into the domestic hazard, branded the 'silent killer'.
Gavin, now 17 years old, talked about how he hopes this video will be a warning for other parents: 'I'm glad that it's out there. It saved the lives of other children that have been fortunate enough to have parents who have seen the video.'
Recalling the dramatic incident on the programme, Gavin's mother said she doesn't actually remember how she untangled her son, while his father added: 'I kind of squeezed him a little bit and then he gasped for air. We were the lucky ones, if you can call it that.'
In the programme, the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Elliot Kaye, told ABC the issue has not been resolved yet because of profits.
'I see decades, and I'm talking decades, about children once a month getting hanged to death by these products and it's got to stop. I think it's disgusting. They're just rolling the dice and taking what they can make in terms of profit', he told the American TV programme.
In the UK, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has registered 28 child deaths between 1999 and 2014 because of blind/chain strangulation, with 15 occuring in 2010.
In 2012, a two year old was sadly found dead by his mother in his bedroom, after being strangled by window blind cord when he looked out of his bedroom window in Newport.
The charity welcomed a new European standard in 2014, which strengthens the child safety elements of previous legislation, requiring that new blinds must be 'safe by design' or be supplied with the appropriate child safety devices installed.
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