Teenager drowns at Greenbooth Reservoir

A teenage boy has drowned in a reservoir, police have said.

The youngster had reportedly got into difficulties while swimming with friends at Greenbooth Reservoir in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Police were called to the moorland beauty spot at 17:55 BST. An underwater search team examined the area and later discovered the boy's body.

The boy's details have not been released and police said they did not believe his death was suspicious.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said his family were aware and being supported by specially trained officers.

Det Ch Insp John Harris said: "My sincerest condolences are with the boy's family at hearing this heart-wrenching news.

"We are working closely with our partners and witnesses to the incident to understand the circumstances."

15 Year Old Drowns in Madrid Public Pool

A 15 year old boy has died in hospital in Madrid having been underwater for more than 5 minutes in the municipal swimming pool in Arganda del Rey, according to a spokesperson from the Madrid Emergency services.

At around 17.45 SUMMA (Emergency Medical Services of Madrid) received a call about the drowning and sent out a medical team by helicopter to the swimming pool in san Sebastion street in Madrid.

Here they they met the lifeguards administering CPR to the child , with the help of a defibrilator.

The SUMMA medical team continued with the CPR and the boy momentarily got a pulse, but then once again stopped breathing.

After being intubated he was taken to the Twelfth of October (the hospital) by helicopter , where he was placed in ICU. 

The medical centre has confirmed that he then died. The boy was playing in the water with friends before the accident.

Suddenly his friends lost sight of him and told the lifeguard who rescued the boy from the water and started resuscitation.

According to witnesses he may have been under the water in the pool for more than 5 minutes.

Horrifying moment a five-year-old boy starts drowning at a Swimming Pool

It's so very true that a picture tell a thousand words! In this disturbing clip which unfortunately shows a young 5 year old boy getting into difficulty whilst everyone around him doesn't notice!

THANKFULLY he survived which is absolutely amazing condidering he was actually sumberged for over four and a half minutes!

Horrifying footage shows a five-year-old boy seemingly start to drown at a crowded pool in Helsinki, while other swimmers carry on oblivious to his plight. 

Footage posted to Imgur shows the youngster struggling in the water for several minutes before losing consciousness.

User Irongross who posted the video, claims the boy was left unsupervised while his mother spent time in the sauna, although this statement has not as yet been verified.

Thankfully the child was resuscitated after a woman finally noticed his body floating on the surface, and has not suffered any permanent harm.

At the start of the footage, the origins of which are unknown, the boy appears to be trying to get his head above water in the shallow pool but is not quite tall enough. 

A man with his child is standing right in front of him, but doesn't seem to notice that he's in difficulty.

After flailing around, he starts trying to get to the side of the pool so he can grip the wall by doing the  doggy paddle underwater.

At one point he does a 360 spin just before a woman swims by him, and although she appears to look right at him, she doesn't seem realise he needs help.

The boy appears to be trying to get his head above water in the shallow end of the pool but can't quite manage it

A man standing nearby does not seem to realise that the youngster is in difficulty

Footage shows the youngster trying to doggy paddle his way to the side of the pool underwater

The child desperately tried to get a grip on the side, but just as he manages it the flow of the water pulls him away. 

He starts drifting towards another group of people who don't seem to see him under the water, and it's at this point that he's unable to carry on struggling. 

His body goes still and starts drifting towards the centre of the pool, still unobserved.

Other swimmers appear not to notice his frantic efforts to reach the side of the pool

The young boy manages to get hold of the side of the pool for just an instant before drifting away again

It was a full minute before anyone noticed the boy floating face down in the water. Thankfully he was plucked out and resuscitated and did not suffer any permanent harm 

For an agonising minute, he continues to bob along in the water face down before a woman finally notices and pulls him out. 

'He was under water four minutes 36 seconds and was saved when his lifeless corps floated next to unknown woman,' the poster explained. 

'Boy was resuscitated and didn't suffer permanent damage.'

The footage has since been viewed more than 173,000 times on Imgur.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4584114/Horrifying-moment-five-year-old-boy-starts-drowning.html#ixzz4jVZM5vzH
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Council 'deeply saddened' as young man dies after incident at swimming pool

Orchard Leisure Centre - Armagh

A young man has died after an incident at the swimming pool in Armagh.

It happened last night (Friday).

Staff worked on the man, who was in his early 20s, until paramedics arrived shortly before 9.30pm. The man was then transferred to Craigavon Area Hospital.

A friend told Armagh I the swimmer sadly passed away earlier this morning.

The Orchard Leisure Centre is closed today (Saturday).

The ABC Council, which operates the facility, confirmed the closure on its website.

It described the reasoning as being “due to unforeseen circumstances”, while councillors had been informed of the loss of life.

Both the PSNI and Health and Safety Executive NI have confirmed the tragic news.

A PSNI spokesperson said officers attended the scene of a “sudden death” last night at the leisure centre in Armagh.

He told Armagh I : “The death is not being treated as suspicious. There are no further details at this time.”

Health and Safety Executive NI will carry out an investigation into the tragedy.

A spokesman told Armagh I : “HSENI have been informed of an incident in Armagh and is in discussion with the local council about the circumstances.”

Classes which had been scheduled today, including gymnastics, and a planned gala will also not now be able to go ahead in the aftermath of this morning’s tragic news.

Tragedy as boy, 3, 'drowns after stepping into jacuzzi

Ronan Kennedy, aged three years and ten months, drowned in a jacuzzi

A three-year-old boy died after drowning in a bubbling jacuzzi at a hotel kids club, an inquest heard.

The little boy drowned as people walked close by, and was said to be invisible in the churning water for a number of minutes.

A grandfather eventually spotted the boy floating, who appeared at first to be swimming, and raised the alarm.

CCTV footage revealed the final movements of Ronan Kennedy, aged three years and ten months, from Templederry in Co Tipperary at the Quality Hotel in Youghal, Co Cork.

Quality Hotel in Youghal, Co Cork

The footage showed the child exit the changing room and walk straight to the jacuzzi, Dublin Coroner's Court heard.

The child's parents, Bridget and John Kennedy, called on the government to introduce regulations for swimming pools immediately, the Irish Mirror reports.

The inquest heard that pools in Ireland are currently unregulated with regard to safety.

In a statement released after the inquest, the Kennedy family said: "Ronan was a magical little boy.

"He loved to play outside, go farming and he adored his food.

"He was full of life, love and was extremely affectionate.

"This cannot happen to any other child.

"We ask that proper protocols be put in place regarding child safety within swimming pools,"

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Garda James Heffernan of Youghal Garda Station reviewed CCTV footage taken at the hotel pool on July 13 2015.

The Quality Hotel, Redbarn, Youghal, Co Cork (Photo: Google Streetview)

He said Ronan walked out of the changing room directly to the water's edge.

Gda Heffernan said: "He walked straight ahead from the door to the lip of the jacuzzi.

"He stepped into the seat of the jacuzzi and then he stepped directly into the middle of the jacuzzi.

"Unfortunately he is not visible for a number of minutes until he drifts out into the pool where he is found."

Kids club staff were placing armbands on children next to the pool near the reception area at the time, the court heard.

"Persons were walking very close and he is just not visible unfortunately," Gda Heffernan said.

Liam Moloney was at the pool with his son and grandson when he found the child floating underwater.

"I saw this little lad, I thought he was swimming underwater at first," he told.

He noticed the child was not moving. "I touched his head and lifted him out of the pool," Mr Moloney, who raised the alarm, added.

The inquest heard from Irish Water Safety (IWS) CEO John Leech who said there are no formal regulations for swimming pools, either public or private, in Ireland.

The pool at the Quality Hotel is privately owned by the hotel.

Mr Leech said pools are currently self-regulated, that there is no official register of swimming pools in Ireland and there is no obligation to follow IWS guidelines.

He recommended that an inspectorate be established to formulate and implement regulation in relation to safety in order to minimise future drownings.

Mr Leech said IWS guidelines for children of Ronan's age recommend a staff ratio of one to four.

A day after arriving at the hotel for a short break, the Kennedy family rushed to Cork University Hospital and later to Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, where Ronan was pronounced dead the following day.

The cause of death was hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy due to drowning according to Pathologist Dr Deirdre Devanney.

The verdict was death by drowning.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane recommended that there be a dedicated lifeguard on duty at all times at swimming pools and the lifeguard should not be a person engaged in other supervisory duties.

The coroner is to contact the relevant Minister to recommend that a dedicated water safety inspectorate is required to formulate regulations and ensure their implementation.

The coroner commended the family's decision to donate little Ronan's organs and thanked them on behalf of those who benefited.

"There is very little one can say to console you in this situation, this is some small thing you can take great consolation from," Dr Cullinane said.

The Kennedy family raised in excess of €40,000 for Temple Street Hospital following Ronan's death.

Their statement said: "I hope no other family has to carry the pain that we do on a daily basis.

"We would suggest that a competent Statutory Body be appointed to impose, monitor and enforce these protocols.

"We believe that regulations have been promised and we would call upon the Government to deal with this promptly as another summer season is upon us and immediate changes need to be made."

Family hopes drowning death of son will lead to greater awareness

Some time in the early days of June 2015, somebody took a lifebuoy from its stand on the banks of the Shannon, just north of the railway bridge in Athlone. About the same time the lifebuoy was removed – it was later be found burned out on nearby waste ground – local schoolboy Caolán Seoige Webster turned 15.

At 6ft 1in, the blue-eyed Caolán was the apple of the eye of his extended family at St Patrick’s Terrace in Athlone. His parents Bernadette and Seán lived next door to Caolán’s uncle Pádraig and aunt Máire. Cousins and siblings wandered freely around both houses. Both sets of parents, like many in Athlone, warned the children of the dangers of the river.

Caolán’s parents say their son, who had just completed second year in the local Marist college, was proud of the way his body was developing. He played a lot of football and was looking beyond the next year’s Junior Certificate to a career in the Army, perhaps inspired by the town’s Custume Barracks. He wanted a small house, a field and two ponies, he told his mother.

None of that was to happen. On June 10th, his parents understood he was going to play football, but Caolán had met some friends and gone to the river. He was a competent swimmer.

Where the friends gathered wasn’t an approved swimming place and Caolán’s father thinks he may not have known the water was nine feet deep. It was also his first swim of the year and he may not have known Ireland’s waterways are still dangerously cold in June. In seconds he was in shock and struggling.

His mother thinks there was an element of bravado in getting into the river. He wouldn’t have wanted to appear “chicken”. His father says he was “just two arms lengths from a jetty” but nobody could reach him and the lifebuoy was gone.

Caolán was in the water for between 10 and 15 minutes, a good portion of that time he was not breathing. Members of the nearby Athlone Sub Aqua Club pulled him from the water and he was taken to hospital in Ballinasloe, before being transferred by helicopter to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin, where he died in the early hours of June 11th.

In Athlone yesterday, his parents, his uncle Pádraig and aunt Máire said they would like to think publicising their loss might help prevent such disaster happening to others. Seán was keen that people be educated to the fact that a stolen lifebuoy could mean a stolen life. He thinks phone numbers should be displayed on lifebuoy stands so people could report when the buoys were missing. “And cameras, if they are going missing a lot,” he said.

Bernadette emphasised the need for young people themselves to know and appreciate the dangers of water and bravado. Thursday would have been Caolán’s 16th birthday and Pádraig said they had a gathering at his grave, later releasing 16 balloons from the house.

According to Roger Sweeney of Irish Water Safety, Caolán’s case is a stark example of the many factors that can go horribly wrong. “People do underestimate the coldness of the water at this time of year and this often coincides with an overestimation of their own ability. People just don’t realise how dangerous water is,” he said.

Thirty-seven children aged 14 and under drowned in the decade to 2014. In total 1,379 people drowned in that decade, an average of 137 every year, or 11 every month.

Mr Sweeney is concerned that in about a month’s time, over half a million primary schoolchildren will be released for the summer break. “We created a water safety curriculum and introduced it in 2004 but we are only scratching the surface in terms of getting buy-in as it is a non-mandatory part of the curriculum,” he said.

Mr Sweeney warned that drowning risks increased during bank holiday weekends, with alcohol present in one third of drowning victims. Some 62 per cent of drownings occur inland, with 80 per cent of drownings occurring close to the victim’s home. He called for “a cultural shift” around water safety, just as that attributed to public perception of road safety.

Would YOU have spotted her? Lifeguard rescues a 3 year old girl!

Would YOU have spotted her? Dramatic moment lifeguard dives in and rescues three-year-old girl about to drown

    •    Footage shows lifeguard surveying busy wave-pool in South Carolina
    •    Waves get turned on but he quickly spots small child in deep distress
    •    He dives into the pool and immediately rescues the three-year-old
    •    Criticized her parents for not watching their child carefully enough

    This is the terrifying moment a lifeguard was forced to dive into a South Carolina wave-pool to rescue a three-year-old girl who was beginning to drown.
Shocking footage shows the lifeguard surveying the pool, which is packed full of adults and children enjoying the water and floating around in rubber rings.
The wave function on the pool is switched on and people begin to enjoy jumping and riding the waves.

The lifeguard walks up and down the side of the pool as he surveys swimmers enjoying themselves - but quickly spots a child in trouble, waving her arms desperately as the waves pull her under.
He dives into the pool quickly and swims towards her, before picking her up and swimming back to the edge of the pool.
The wave function is turned off as swimmers look on in confusion.

The unnamed lifeguard said: 'I had to walk this 3 year old girl around until I could find her family.
'They had no idea she was missing.
'I have been doing this for 18 years and I am still amazed by the lack of supervision some kids get around the water.'
Several online commentators have condemned the parents for neglecting the child.
One said: 'Anyone who lets a 3 year old go into a wave pool by themselves without any life jacket on should be criminally prosecuted for neglect.'

Some good work from the Lifeguard in this incident!

A fun day in the sun almost turned deadly for a 5-year-old boy swimming at a Fargo pool Thursday afternoon.

Staff at the Davies Recreational Pool spotted the boy in the water and pulled him to safety. A lifeguard on duty performed chest compressions and called for assistance.

F-M Ambulance rushed to the pool and later brought the boy to the hospital. They say he was conscious and breathing at that time.

The Fargo Park District’s director of recreation says things like this don't happen often, but they want lifeguards to be ready at all times.

"Their emergency action plan for pull-outs they just rehearsed it yesterday and then they are going to have a debriefing at 5pm with their manager, so I am very proud of our staff,” explained Clay Whittlesey with the Fargo Park District. “I can't emphasize how important it is in these situations to really have a good understanding of what you're doing and how important that is when you're on the lifeguard stand."

Whittlesey says the pool was at max capacity with 11 lifeguards on duty at the time of the incident.

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More very very sad news from swimming pool with no Lifeguard

A seven-year-old girl has died after being pulled unconscious from a holiday park swimming pool during a children's birthday party.

The girl, who has not yet been named, suffered 'life threatening injuries' as a result of being underwater at the Waveney River Centre in Burgh St Peter near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

She was hauled out of the indoor pool at around noon today and taken to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, by ambulance. However, she died from her injuries a short time later at 4pm.

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Waveney River Centre

The girl was a guest at the pool party which was being supervised by parents. The holiday park confirmed it had not provided a lifeguard as the pool was being privately-hired out at the time.

Norfolk Police confirmed the death is being treated as unexplained, but said it was not suspicious.

Attempts were made to resuscitate the girl at the scene before she was taken to hospital.

The Waveney River Centre offers accommodation for holidaymakers in what it described on its website as luxury lodges, a hotel and static caravans.

The holiday park in the heart of the Norfolk Broads has a newly-refurbished heated indoor pool and indoor spa.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said a rapid response vehicle and two ambulances were sent to help the young girl.

An East Anglian Air Ambulance helicopter was also sent to the holiday park in case she needed to be airlifted to hospital.

But the spokesman said that the girl was taken to a local hospital by land ambulance in a serious condition while 'still showing signs of life'.

Confirming the girl had died this afternoon, Norfolk Police said in a statement: 'Police can confirm that a girl has died following an incident in Burgh St Peter this afternoon.

'Officers were called by ambulance staff at 12pm to Waveney River Centre near Beccles, following reports a seven-year-old child had been found unconscious in a swimming pool.

'The girl was taken to the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth but sadly died at around 4pm. Next-of-kin are aware and police are continuing to investigate.

'The death is currently being treated as unexplained but is not believed to be suspicious.'

A four year old boy from the UK drowns in Spain

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The incident happened at a holiday complex in Torrevieja

Another tragedy to focus the mind as you set off on holiday this summer with your loved ones.

A four-year-old boy from the UK has drowned in a swimming pool in Spain, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

The boy died before emergency services arrived at a holiday complex in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca on Wednesday, local authorities said.

It is believed he had only recently arrived at the resort with his parents.

The Foreign Office said it was providing support to the boy's family. "Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time," a spokesman added.

Elite swimmer Tate Ramsden’s death spotlights dangers of ‘Shallow Water Blackout’

Tate Ramsden

The death of an elite college swimmer has drawn attention to a dangerous condition called “shallow water blackout,” which can threaten even the most skilled swimmers.

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• Shallow Water Blackout : The Facts
• Hypoxic Blackout vs. Shallow Water Blackout

Tate Ramsden, 21, died this week while doing laps at a YMCA in Sarasota, Florida, according to a police report. Despite being a member of the Dartmouth swim team, Ramsden had to be pulled from the pool by lifeguards who attempted to save his life.

The student had already swum 4,000 yards when he attempted to swim four additional laps without taking a single breath, police said. Competitive swimmers train to take a minimal number of breaths in order to swim faster.

But such training without breathing can lead to a dangerous condition called “shallow water blackout.”

It can occur when swimmers hold their breath until they blackout, after which the body forces a breath and inhales water. The severe lack of oxygen can lead people to blackout “without warning” so they don’t surface for air before becoming incapacitated, according to the Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Organization.

Dr. Rhonda Milner, a retired radiologist and founder of the organization, said it’s key for advanced swimmers to understand that extreme training can be dangerous without proper supervision.”It’s another tragic event; it’s completely preventable,” Milner told ABC News today. “One of my current concerns, he was an excellent swimmer; he didn’t understand that he was putting himself at risk.”

Milner pointed out that if swimmers hyperventilate before breathing, their bodies may not build up the carbon dioxide that signals the body to take a breath, meaning they can pass out before they realize there’s a problem.

The same problem can occur if a swimmer works out with few breaths, leading to insufficient oxygen levels.

“You can ignore your urge to breathe; you get endorphins,” like a runner’s high, Milner said. “You’re set up for really putting yourself at risk.”

Milner, who started the foundation after her son died from a shallow water blackout-related drowning, said coaches must warn swimmers to be careful about trying to hold their breath for extended periods of time and not rely on lifeguards, who may not be used to seeing such cases.

“It should only be done in practice where they’re really closely watched,” Milner said.

Ramsden’s family released a statement mourning the young swimmer.

“His capacity for love for his family and friends was his great gift,” they said, “We truly cherished every moment we shared together.”

The family also said they wanted to raise awareness about this issue.

“This is an issue we feel swimmers and coaches should be made aware of,” the family said.