Child found in hotel fountain is clinging to life

(12-09) 17:36 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The 1 1/2-year-old boy found not breathing in a fountain at the Hyatt Regency hotel in San Francisco was hospitalized in "life-threatening condition" Thursday, a police spokesman said.

Sgt. Michael Andraychak said there had been no change in the boy's condition since Wednesday, when officers called to the hotel by the boy's mother pulled him from the fountain and revived him using CPR.

The mother called police around 1:20 p.m. after she lost track of the boy in the hotel. The incident appeared to be an accident, a Fire Department spokeswoman said.

The boy's name has not been released.

Pete Hillan, a spokesman for the Hyatt, said the toddler had been found near a Christmas tree at the end of a 29-inch-deep trough that drains the fountain. He said it is the "first time (the hotel) has had an accident" with the fountain since it was built in 1973.

The hotel emptied the fountain Thursday and erected 3-foot-high barriers around the trough as "a temporary solution," Hillan said.

"It really provides safety and security ... that would allow us to prevent anyone from having access to the trough and give us time to put together a more permanent design," he said.

E-mail Jessica Kwong at jkwong@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle