A young Nigerian boy who was just six years old, has died in Canada.
According to CTV News, the young boy who moved to Montreal from Nigeria with his family just two months ago, drowned on Monday while swimming in a crowded pool.
Witnesses told CTV Montreal that the swimming pool, located outside an apartment building in the city’s Saint-Leonard neighbourhood, was at capacity on Monday around 7p.m.
The child slipped under the water and was spotted unconscious at the bottom of the pool, witnesses said.
There was one lifeguard on duty, witnesses say, and she jumped into the pool and pulled the child to the deck. She immediately performed chest compressions on the child but was unable to revive the boy.
Diane Lambert said the child’s mother was in a state of nervous shock and rushed to hospital.
“I just see the little boy there on the floor and he was trying to breathe and she was pumping the heart, and he never came back,” Lambert told CTV Montreal.
The child was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The pool where the boy drowned
The boy was at the pool with his mother and two siblings, witnesses said. Friends of the family confirmed that the child moved to Canada just three months ago with his family.
A coroner has been called to investigate the circumstances that led to the death.
Under provincial rules in Quebec, small pools only require one lifeguard on duty. However, if more than 50 people are in the swimming area, a second lifeguard is required.
It’s unclear how many people were at the pool at the time, but witnesses say it was full. Local temperatures were well above 30C on Monday.
Raynald Hawkins with the Lifesaving Society of Quebec said the rules ensure that a lifeguard can do their job properly.
“It’s very hard for a lifeguard to see all those patrons at the same time,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins recommends that parents always be an arms’ length away from their children while at the pool and turn off their phone to avoid being distracted by texting.
He says it only takes 10 to 15 seconds for an unmonitored child to drown, and the emergency situation can be “very silent.”