A 6-year-old boy in South Korea drowned to his death during a swimming lesson at his apartment complex’s swimming pool.
The incident took place on 8 February in Busan, South Korea.
The boy who drowned suffered brain death and later died – his life jacket had gotten stuck on the ladder inside the swimming pool.
The Korea Herald reported that the incident happened during a 3-to-1 swimming lesson between the coach and 3 young students.
CCTV footage showed the swimming instructor attending to another student at the opposite end of the swimming pool when the deceased started drowning.
There was no lifeguard present at the time and the boy’s parents were also not around because they were at work.
The mother of the boy posted about the incident online, saying that she received no apology or visit from the pool officials and no one discussed how the boy could have been saved.
She said that she is spending “every minute and every second apologising for her child while her heart aches with regrets.”
Instructor thought boy was joking, ignored calls for help
At the time of the drowning, another 8-year-old boy had called the instructor for help but he had thought it was a joke and didn’t immediately check on the situation, according to EDaily.
The 8-year-old boy then tried to pull the 6-year-old boy out of the swimming pool but couldn’t because he wasn’t strong enough.
A third child then started calling for help and the instructor then finally realised the severity of the situation, lifting the boy out of the pool and performing CPR on him for about 30 minutes.
The boy was then resuscitated but was diagnosed as brain-dead, before being put on life support.
The doctors recommended taking the boy off life support and letting him die with dignity, but the mother refused because she was reluctant to let her son go.
However, on 15 February, the boy succumbed to his condition and subsequently died.
The South Korean police are investigating the cause of the accident, and the instructor and the pool officials may be charged with negligent homicide.