A witness has said that no lifeguard was present when three-year old Anastacia Joseph drowned at the Pegasus Hotel last Monday.
The eyewitness, who asked not to be named, contacted this newspaper in light of Pegasus Hotel owner Robert Badal saying last Tuesday that a lifeguard was on duty and that five adults were in the pool at the time when the girl drowned.
According to the witness, there was no lifeguard present, only a pool attendant, who collected receipts and handed out towels.
“When the incident happened, we called him out of his station to go assist because we were under the impression that he was the lifeguard until we saw the back of his t-shirt… he was completely lost as to what needed to be done. He just stood there completely lost,” the eyewitness said.
According to the man, no staff trained in administering Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) ran over to assist when the alarm was raised and it was an associate of the family who attempted to pump the little girl’s stomach.
“It had over 15 staff standing there just looking on, talking among themselves… I was there when the incident occurred, I saw everything that played out and I will speak out…” the eyewitness added.
However, he explained that a lifeguard did show up at the poolside but it was five minutes after the girl was removed from the pool and he too attempted CPR.
The man also refuted reports which stated that there were adults in the pool at the time of the incident. He said from what he had observed “there were two other girls who didn’t look older than 14 and a young boy who didn’t look older than 5. There [were] no adults in the pool with the children,” he said.
He explained that when persons saw the child floating in the water, an alarm was sounded and the mother rushed to the child’s aid and collected her from one of the girls. “There was no splashing up or noise made by the child so nobody really know when she went down,” the eyewitness added.
Meanwhile, Commander of Region Four ‘A’ Edgar Thomas told this newspaper on Friday that the investigations are still ongoing. He noted that they are yet to receive statements from eyewitnesses and an autopsy was yet to be conducted.
The police plan to seek legal advice to determine whether there was any criminal intent or negligence that led to the child’s death.
The child, who had been swimming with relatives, was later found floating in the pool.
She was pulled from the pool and rushed to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital after being administered CPR but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Badal had noted that the child was under the supervision of five members of her family but he admitted that he was unsure what happened since he was not on the premises. He added that apart from the lifeguard, several other staff members are trained in administering CPR and that was carried out.
