5-year-old found at bottom of Southfield pool on ventilator

Family members continue their prayers for a 5-year-old boy who was pulled from a pool at his grandmother's house Memorial Day.

It happened Monday afternoon in a Southfield neighborhood. According to witnesses, someone noticed the child fall in and 911 was immediately called. The boy was rescued, but, 24 hours later, he's still on a ventilator in the hospital.

As Fox 2's Amy Lange reports, now family members are just praying he pulls through.

Robert Perry had been playing with his older brother and sister at the home of their maternal grandmother on nine mile in Southfield Monday afternoon.

Robert was trying to catch a frog when he ended up in the algae-covered pool.

Southfield Firefighters were there within minutes, and relatives were already in the pool searching for him. But with zero visibility they couldn't see him. 

"There was no visibility. I mean, you couldn't see a foot underwater when we got there," says Chief Keith Rowley from the Southfield Fire Department. A firefighter jumped in, and Rowley says they thought he had found the child, but rather had found a large log. 

So, firefighters grabbed their pipe poles, which are normally used for tearing down drywall. They used them to try to find the boy. It took 15 minutes for firefighters to find him, but relatives say Robert was underwater for up to half an hour.

"No heartbeat. He had no vital signs when they first got him," says Rowley. 

The child was rushed to Providence Hospital. On the way, paramedics were able to get his heart beating once again, and now he's at Children's Hospital on a ventilator in stable but critical condition. 

Meantime, firefighters say fence off your pools, teach your children to swim, know CPR and watch the children around all bodies of water.

Southfield police says detectives are investigating what happened, but, at this time no foul play is suspected.