HOUSTON (AP) _ Authorities say a Houston-area toddler drowned after he fell into a swift-moving current near the Gulf of Mexico while trying to wash his hands in the water.
Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office investigator Stephen Buchanan says the 2-year-old’s family was having a picnic Sunday under the San Luis Pass Bridge that connects Brazoria and Galveston counties.
Buchanan tells the Houston Chronicle that the boy’s mother told her son to go wash his hands. He says the mother looked toward the shore moments later and the boy was gone.
Buchanan says the Coast Guard recovered the body about an hour later. Swimming is prohibited in the area because of strong currents.
The family is from the Houston suburb of Stafford.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)