More than 650 North Carolina children died unexpectedly during 1993 in circumstances that caused their deaths to be investigated by state medical examiners, a continuing study indicates.
Of the 663 child fatality cases certified by the Medical Examiner System that year, 294 youngsters died in accidents, 231 succumbed to natural causes and 88 were homicide victims, the study shows. Thirty-five children committed suicide, and the cause of 15 deaths could not be determined. Child abuse claimed 24 young lives.
John D. Butts, clinical professor of pathology and the state's chief medical examiner, chairs the state's Child Fatality Prevention Team. The team compiled the report.
The study also discovered:
*Motor vehicle accidents claimed 183 other lives, including 138 drivers or vehicle occupants. Twenty-nine victims were pedestrians, 13 were riding bicycles, two drove motorcycles and one was on a four-wheeler. More than half of young car accident victims were not restrained by seat belts or child safety seats. None of the bicycle riders was wearing a helmet.
*Thirty youngsters drowned, 19 died accidentally from gunfire, 22 were asphyxiated and 26 others died after being struck by falling objects, electrocution, plane crashes and other causes.
*Guns were used in 51 of the 88 homicides. Six deaths resulted from stabbings, four from assaults, two from strangulation and one from arson.
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