Emergency services were called to the farm just after 5.30pm on Tuesday when Anamiek was found lying in a shallow pond. Photo / File
The toddler who drowned in a shallow pond on a farm near Westport has been named.
She was 21-month-old Anamiek Manshande.
Emergency services were called to the farm just after 5.30pm on Tuesday when Anamiek was found lying in a shallow pond.
Attempts to resuscitate the girl were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at Westport Hospital.
Police are investigating the circumstances around how she drowned in the pond, which was fenced off.
Workers on the farm were attempting CPR when the fire service arrived at the scene.
Waimangaroa chief fire officer Margaret Lilley said Anamiek was the daughter of workers on the farm.
"Our sympathy goes out to the parents."
A family member who went to check on the toddler found her lying in a shallow garden pond, police said.
Ms Lilley said she was not aware how the incident happened, but said there were a number of ponds on the property due to recent rains.
"[The mother is] blaming herself and saying 'I should have done this, I should have done that'. She was in shock, they both were in shock."
The farm's owner declined to comment on the incident but said the parents of Anamiek had worked on the farm for about three years.
The girl is the second to die following an accident at a rural pond.
In January, 2-year-old Irene Nath died after falling in to a duck pond on a farm at Otapiri, in Southland.
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