Girl, 3, in Critical Condition After Falling Into Back Yard Cesspool : El Rio: Oxnard firefighters use a pole to lift the child through the hole. She was submerged at least 10 minutes.

A 3-year-old El Rio girl was in critical condition Tuesday night after she fell through a 9-inch hole into a back-yard cesspool and was submerged for at least 10 minutes before rescue workers arrived.

Oxnard firefighters used a pole to lift Amy Rocha from the underground tank, where she fell while playing with brothers Tommy, 9, and Frank, 6, in the back yard of the family home on Stroube Street.

“I reached down in the hole with a pike pole, happened to feel a little bump, turned the hook and pulled her up,” said Oxnard Firefighter Tom Sugawara. “I could see her diaper and an arm, but we had a hard time getting her through the hole because it was so small.”

The incident occurred about 5 p.m. as Amy’s grandfather, Vincente Gutierrez, 73, was digging up the three concrete covers that seal the cesspool entrances, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Norris. The family planned to have the cesspool emptied today, he said.

As Gutierrez turned his back to remove the dirt that covered one entrance, Amy fell into an already opened hole behind him, Norris said. Gutierrez did not know Amy had fallen in until the cries of her brothers alerted him, Norris said.

Joshua Andersen, a 13-year-old neighbor of the Rocha family, said he had visited the back yard minutes before the accident. “I saw the baby playing in the back yard, and then five minutes later I saw all kinds of cops here.”

When emergency personnel arrived more than 10 minutes later, a crowd of anguished relatives and neighbors was gathered in the back yard, said Sheriff’s Deputy John Franchi, the first officer on the scene.

“The child was completely submerged, and I couldn’t tell how deep the pit was,” Franchi said. “My baton wouldn’t even reach to the surface of the water through the entrance.”

Franchi said he was stunned at the thought someone had fallen through one of the narrow entrances to the tank. “You look at the size of the hole, it’s amazing that anyone could even fall in.”

Franchi estimated the girl was submerged for at least 15 minutes. Physicians say that brain damage can begin occurring after a child is submerged for only five minutes.

As soon as Oxnard firefighters managed to lift Amy from the tank, they began cardiopulmonary resuscitation as they rushed her to a waiting ambulance, Sugawara said.

The child was unconscious and not breathing, he said.

“She looked real bad,” said one neighbor.

Amy was transported to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where a nursing supervisor described her condition as critical. She was later transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara.

After interviewing witnesses, Sgt. Norris said the incident was apparently an accident, and not the result of a lack of supervision. Both the grandfather and Amy’s mother, Soccorro Rocha, were home at the time, he said.

“There doesn’t appear to be a criminal violation of any kind,” Norris said.