SEOUL (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network): A six-year-old boy who was found face down in a pool in South Korea’s Busan city during a small-group swimming lesson died on Wednesday (Feb 15) afternoon, the Busan police said on Thursday.
The boy had been in critical condition for a week after the accident.
The child was found unconscious near a pool ladder at around 7.45pm on Feb 8. It was determined that he drowned after his life jacket became stuck between the ladder’s rungs while he was diving into the water.
Surveillance camera footage shows the swimming instructor tending to another learner at the other end of the pool, while the victim and another child were on the opposite end.
The pool, owned and operated by an apartment complex where the boy lived, is about 1.4m deep, slightly deeper than the child’s height of 1.09m. There was no lifeguard on duty at the time of the accident, police said.
“My child died because of the carelessness of the safety personnel at the pool. This is something that should not have happened and could have been prevented,” the child’s mother said during an interview with local media.
Police are investigating the exact cause of the accident while considering charges of negligent homicide for the instructor and pool officials.
