A young child drowned Friday afternoon in a large pond without a security fence at an apartment complex on Columbus' Southeast Side — the second such incident in eight days in the city and at least the third in the metro area in a month.

Columbus police received several 911 calls just before 4 p.m. about a child who had gone under the water in the 4500 block of Lakeside North in the Hartford on the Lake complex, which is located off the east side of South Hamilton Road between Interstates 70 and 270.

Columbus Division of Fire divers were in the water at 4:23 p.m., said Battalion Chief Steve Martin.

Within four minutes, the child, whose age was estimated to be 1-to-2 years old, was pulled from the pond and resuscitation attempts were made.

The child was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital, where they were pronounced dead at 5 p.m., police said.

The large pond is surrounded by apartment buildings. Several of the buildings are about 20 feet from the water. There are no barricades, fencing or railings based on Google photos of the property.

Columbus police homicide detectives were responding to the tragedy. The name of the child and other details were not were not immediately available.

Earlier this month, Ester Mutivito, 4, drowned Sept. 2 on the city's Northeast Side after the nonverbal child was reported missing by her family. She was last seen around 2:30 p.m. that day in the area of LeMarie Court and Morse Road and presumed to have drowned.

She was found the next day, Sept. 3, in what officials called a retention pond near Belcher Drive and Dresden Street at the Whispering Oaks Apartments complex that was surrounded by stones but no fence. The pond is about a half-mile from where she was last seen.

On Aug. 12, a 10-year-old Pataskala boy died after being pulled from a retention pond near his home on Shelter Cove Drive in the Broadmore Commons community which had a partial fencing around it.

For subscribers: Father of 9-year-old who drowned in retention pond says a fence may have prevented her death

The boy, who was autistic, had wandered away from home before and the boy's parents called parents within six minutes of him leaving home.

Columbus city code requires there to be fencing and locking gates around public and private pools. However, there are no such requirements for retention ponds, typically used for stormwater runoff to prevent flooding.

Requiring safeguards for ponds would be costly and impossible without political will, said Tony Celebrezze, deputy director of the Columbus Building and Zoning Services Department.

"Even if the City Council decided to pass something, it would be very difficult, maybe impossible, to do something retroactively," said Celebrezze, who works with developers and builders on compliance issues.

"It definitely would add significant cost, whether they use a chain link fence or try something to make it look prettier," he said. He said he's surprised that insurance companies don't require extra protections or higher premiums for such hazards.

Meanwhile, safety experts are frustrated with such tragic, but preventable, outcomes.

"Kids are naturally drawn to water," said Martin, acting spokesman for the Columbus Division of Fire. "There's just a natural inquisitive nature to see what's there.

"Parents have to be vigilant to monitor their kids, make sure they know the dangers and to know where they are," he said. "Parenting's hard and kids are lightning fast."

Those who see a child in a pond should first find a pole or stick to extend, a raft or boat if one is available and always call 911, Martin said.