2 children drowned in a swimming pool that was supposed to be off limits at a California daycare. Police say the deaths are an 'eye-opener' to families nationwide.

• Two 1-year-old girls drowned this week in a backyard swimming pool at a California daycare.
• The pool at the San Jose home daycare center was supposed to be off-limits, state records show.

Two 1-year-old girls drowned this week in a backyard swimming pool that was supposed to be off-limits at a home daycare center in California, according to authorities and state records.

The Monday deaths of the children, identified to Insider by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office as Payton Cobb and Lilian Hanan, will be an "eye-opener" to families across the country, a police official said.

"This incident as a whole will be an eye-opener to many families, not just here in San Jose but nationwide, to really do their due diligence and investigate" their daycare facilities, San Jose Police Department spokesman Officer Steven Aponte told reporters this week, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The tragedy unfolded on Monday morning at the Happy Happy Home Daycare center in San Jose, according to police.

First responders arrived at the home where the daycare facility was operated just after 9 a.m. for a report that multiple children had fallen into a pool there, authorities said.

Three kids, including two who were in "severe medical distress," were discovered in the pool and rushed to local hospitals, Aponte said, according to NBC Bay Area. Two of them were pronounced dead. The third child was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

"This is the type of call that's the worst that a parent can receive," Aponte told reporters, according to KGO-TV.

It was not immediately clear how the children wound up in the pool or whether anyone would face criminal charges over the incident, but police are continuing their investigation and said the probe could take several months.

The Happy Happy Home Daycare did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Thursday.

State inspectors previously raised concerns about the off-limits pool area

State records viewed by Insider show that the Happy Happy Home Daycare was licensed with a capacity of eight by the California Department of Social Services in January 2021.

Before owners Nina Fathizadeh and Shanin Shenas were granted the license, state inspectors raised concerns about the pool area, which was considered to be an "off-limit" part of the home, the records show.

State inspectors said in a December 2020 inspection report that the pool was fully fenced in the backyard and that the fence was at least 5-feet-high and made of a "hard mesh material."

"The gate swings away from the pool, self-closes and has a self-latching device, located no more than six inches from the top of the gate," the report said.

Inspectors took issue with gaps on both ends of the fence and asked for them to be shortened to no more than two inches, according to the report.

In another report before the license was issued, state inspectors said there were "four windows behind the fencing that lead directly to the pool" and that "in order to ensure there is no immediate risk to the health and safety of the children in care," the fence should be modified to go "in a straight line."

That report said the fence gaps inspectors previously took issue with were shortened.

The license was issued days later and state inspectors said in a report that day that the fence had been modified and that the "pool area is inaccessible to the children in care."

"All items that posed a potential threat to the children in care, from the side and back yard area, have been now removed," the inspectors wrote. "The area examined is now in compliance with the health and safety regulations, in accordance with Title 22."

State records show that the facility has been cited six previous times. It was once accused of having five infants, instead of four, in the home and another time was accused of not obtaining "criminal record and child abuse index clearances" for an employee.

Inspectors last inspected the daycare center last month when they issued a citation accusing the owners of not maintaining sleep check documentation for the children, according to the records.

The California Department of Social Services told Insider in a statement that it is conducting an investigation into Monday's drowning incident and that it was unable to comment further, citing ongoing investigations.