Igloo, a maker of ice chests used by millions of beachgoers and campers — announced a voluntary recall Monday, after a little boy was briefly trapped in one of its coolers.
Igloo, based in Katy, Texas, and retailer West Marine, out of Watsonville, California, jointly announced the action targeting five sizes of the Igloo Marine Elite, the 54-quart, 72-quart, 94-quart, 110-quart and 150-quart models.
The companies are also offering free kits to replace the latch on those models so that they are no longer self-locking.
"It is possible that the stainless-steel latch could, inadvertently close where a person could potentially become locked inside," Igloo said in a statement. "We are working closely with West Marine to send customers a free latch-replacement kit that you can use to easily and safely switch out the current latch."
Of the sizes of Marine Elite coolers being recalled, 25,000 were in circulation, having either been sold or on store shelves, Igloo spokesman Ashton Maxfield told NBC News.
He said this is the first time the company has heard of one of its products trapping a person inside.
"It was an isolated incident," Maxfield said. "But we as soon as we heard about it, we wanted to take action."
The father of the 5-year-old boy who got trapped posted home surveillance video on Facebook about the incident.
"So we always see the good stuff and although this story ended well, hopefully there is something to be learned," Robert Wanes, of Pompano Beach, Florida, wrote on his social media post. "My son Nicholas got locked inside an igloo cooler. He was playing by himself and thought it was a good idea."
