A three-year-old drowned in the swimming pool at his home in Gezina, Pretoria on Wednesday, paramedics said.

"Paramedics arrived at the scene at 4.10pm and initiated a full advanced life support protocol resuscitation," said Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman.

He said the child was placed onto emergency life support, cardiac drugs were administered and CPR was performed while en route to the Eugene Marais hospital.

However, continued efforts to revive him failed and the toddler died in the emergency unit.

Dollman said a trauma councillor was at the scene to attend to the family.

"We hope that some of the tragedies can be avoided by raising awareness of the dangers of swimming pools and encouraging parents to protect their pools with safety nets, pool alarm and fences before the holiday season," he said.