Following the drowning of a 14-year-old boy at the Splashmin’s Resort on Sunday, the company has denied suggestions of any negligence in water safety at the facility, saying that additional lifeguards are hired during peak periods because of safety concerns.
“There are always lifeguards on duty, especially on Sundays when we know there is in an increase in the number of persons visiting. We even have additional lifeguards when there are special functions such as Jamzone. Emphasis is placed on these things…” Rose Gunraj, Public Relations Officer of Splashmin’s told Stabroek News yesterday. The company later issued a press release emphasising the need to adhere to warnings posted around the resort.
Splashmin’s’ response came in wake of the death of Kevin Ram, 14, of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, who drowned at the fun park on Sunday afternoon. Reports are that Ram, who accompanied his sister and guardian, Vinisha Ram, an employee of the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) to her firm’s fun day, drowned after he went to rescue his friend Kishan Nanand, 15, who ventured out into the no-swim zone. Neither of the boys could swim.
Nanand was first pulled out of the creek and was resuscitated before being transferred to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and later, Georgetown Public Hospital. However, when Ram was pulled out, persons on the scene stated that he had no pulse.
His relatives later blamed Splashmin’s management for negligence, claiming that there was no lifeguard on duty and that it was a patron of the facility who attempted to rescue both lads and subsequently pulled them out of the water. “When the boys went down, it was a man on a jet ski who abandoned his ski and jumped overboard and pulled the first guy. It was after people shouted it was two and he plunged back in with the help of a TCL employee and began to search for my nephew. There was not a lifeguard in sight. They then brought two men when people start fuh cuss up and said they were lifeguards but that was after the fact,” said an angry uncle of the dead child.
In a press statement yesterday, the Splashmin’s Fun Park said that guidelines should be followed by patrons. “…the management and staff of Ashmin’s Fun Park and Resort/Splashmin’s remains committed to their safe enjoyment of our facilities. However we still need your cooperation to ensure park rules and guidelines are adhered to; please do not leave young children unattended in the water at any time without some form of adult supervision. We ask that everyone swim only in the designated areas,” the release said. Persons who converged at the Diamond Hospital also informed that many of the parents went on water rides and left their children unattended on Sunday.
Vinisha Ram had said that she left her brother sitting and instructed him not to move as she went for a boat ride. An autopsy is due to be performed on the boy’s body tomorrow.
