Texas 4-Year-Old Dies When Barbecue Pit Falls On Top Of Him: Police

A 4-year-old boy in the Houston area died when he tried to climb on a steel barbecue pit and it fell on top of him, police said.

The mother was at home doing chores Tuesday when the boy went into the backyard to play, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

The mother heard a “thud” and found her son pinned under the heavy pit, which he had tried to climb on top of, police said.

She called 911, and a sheriff’s deputy who was in the area responded almost instantly, police said. He performed CPR immediately but couldn’t save the child, police said.

The mother’s two other children were at school, police said.

An investigation is ongoing, and an autopsy has been ordered, but authorities said they believe it was just a tragic accident.

The latest report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, published in August 2014, found that 430 deaths between 2000 and 2013 were associated with TVs, furniture or appliances that tipped over.

Children 10 years old or younger made up 84 percent of those fatalities.