A toddler found submerged in a tank of baptismal water in an Alabama church died of accidental drowning, the local coroner said on Monday.
Brayden King, who was two months shy of his second birthday, was under the supervision of a sister in her early teens when he fell into the tank on Friday at the Pentecostal House of Prayer in Decatur, about 75 miles north of Birmingham, said Morgan County Coroner Jeffrey Chunn.
The toddler was found in 33 inches of water and declared dead after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him, Chunn said.
The child’s mother, who has two teenage daughters, had prayed for years for a son, the Huntsville Times newspaper quoted church pastor Bishop TD Strong as saying over the weekend.
“Twenty-two months ago he gave her a son,” Strong said, according to the newspaper. “And 22 months later he was taken away. I’ve been preaching 30 years and pastoring for 20 years, this is the first time in my ministry I’ve been speechless.”
Strong could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in New Orleans; editing by Sandra Maler
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