A toddler died of accidental drowning after falling into in a tank of baptismal water in an Alabama church just two months shy of his second birthday.
Brayden King was under the supervision of his 13-year-old sister when he fell into the large rectangular font last Friday at the Pentecostal House of Prayer in Decatur, reports DailyMail. The little boy was found submerged in 33 inches of water and pronounced dead after unsuccessful attempts to revive him.
The child's mother, Kimberly King, who has two teenage daughters, had prayed to God for years for a son, according to the church pastor Bishop TD Strong.
‘Twenty-two months ago he gave her a son. 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.’
Pastor Strong described the boy’s family as ‘devastated.’ The freak accident happened around 7.45pm
Friday while Brayden was at the church with his older sister and mother. Strong said Kimberly King was preparing for a skit to be performed at a prayer meeting, and the sister was tasked with keeping an eye on the toddler. The teen lost track of the toddler for a short time.
Little Brayden somehow climbed up two flights of stairs and opened a set of doors to reach the font behind the altar still filled with water from a Sunday baptism. When Mrs King realized her son was not with his sister, she went on a frantic search of the church building, which eventually led her to the baptism tank where her son was discovered unresponsive in water. Church members and emergency crews who were called to the scene were unable to resuscitate the child. Bishop Strong continued:
I'm just at a loss, because it is so close to home. People die every day. And I've done many funerals, but for a child to die in church, in the baptistery, it's beyond ordinary and something that will never be forgotten by me.’
A funeral for the little boy will be held Thursday, after which he will be laid to rest.
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