The small, man-made pond (at right) in the backyard of this Wakefield residence was where 2-year-old Christopher Sardella was found by his mother.
(Joanne Rathe/ Globe Staff)
Wakefield boy, 2, dies after falling in pond
Wandered away as mother did chores
The small, man-made pond (at right) in the backyard of this Wakefield residence was where 2-year-old Christopher Sardella was found by his mother.
(Joanne Rathe/ Globe Staff)
A 2-year-old boy drowned in a man-made pond in the backyard of his home in Wakefield yesterday.
Wakefield police responded about 11:30 a.m. to a home on Lake Street where they found the toddler in cardiac arrest. Emergency workers tried to revive the boy as they rushed him to Melrose Wakefield Hospital. He was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died about 2 p.m., police said.
Christopher Sardella had wandered away from his mother while she was doing chores in the house, police said. Christopher walked down a flight of stairs and out of the two-family residence. He fell into a koi pond, which had about 18 inches of water in it.
The koi pond, a water garden that features fish, is adjacent to a pool at the house.
When the boy’s mother noticed he was missing, she ran out of the house and found him in the water, unresponsive, police said.
“It appears, at this point, to be a tragic accident,’’ Police Chief Richard E. Smith said in a statement.
Police are working with Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.’s office investigating the incident.
John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com. 
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