THREE-year-old Kareem Edwards spent the last day of his short life playing on the riverbank with the cousins he followed everywhere.

The toddler drowned yesterday after he slipped into the Guaracara River, located at the back of his home in Riversdale, Williamsville.

Edwards was due to return to school—the Early Childhood Centre at Whiteland Village—on Monday.

His mother, Lianne Ayers, 29, had planned to buy his books yesterday. Ayres was not at home when he drowned.

"I went to San Fernando to see about my daughter's birth paper. My cellphone battery was dead so I did not get any message. When I reach home about two o'clock, then I heard what happened and I went straight to the hospital."

Darius Outram, Edward's uncle, said eight children were with three adults, fishing, around noon yesterday.

One adult took the children back to the house and then left to go to a nearby parlour.

However, Outram said the children, including Edwards, returned to the river, where he fell in.

The eldest child in the group was 13 years old.

Outram said, "One of his cousins came and told us what happened and we went to look for him. We took about an hour to find him because the river had carried him into a hole. We performed CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) on him. Water came through his mouth and nose and he was not breathing."

Outram's sister called the ambulance but while they were waiting for it to arrive, a neighbour took the child to the San Fernando General Hospital. Paramedics met them on the way.

Edwards, nicknamed "Pancho", was looking forward to starting the new school term on Monday, his mother said.

"He was always playing, and he loved fishing. He always said, 'Mummy, I want to go fishing.' He said his father had a fish for him and he wanted it. I was going to call him and tell him Kareem wanted the fish. Well he not going and get any fish now."

Ayers said he was loved by everybody and his favourite toy was a teddy bear he called "Baygee".

He also developed a love for reading and would sometimes read for her, she said.

Ayers said every morning when she left for work at a poultry company, she would kiss her son good-bye.

"Now I will have not have anyone to kiss when I come home. He will always be with me no matter what. The last time I saw him, he was sleeping and I kissed him good-bye when I left," she cried.

Ayers said there were always adults at home to supervise the children, but blamed no-one for what happened.

"I am not going to press charges or blame anybody. It was an honest mistake. Kids will be kids, you could talk to them over and over and they will still go and do the same thing you tell them not to do. He will always be with me no matter what."