You need to always be alert when your child is swimming

Teaching kids to stay afloat on their backs is an important survival skill. Photos: The Star/Azlina Abdullah

They only took their eyes off their seven-year-old daughter for a few minutes, and she almost drowned. It was a family outing that almost turned tragic for financial controller Sheila Virumandi, 43, and her husband, businessman Anand Nadason, 43, who had spent the afternoon at a swimming pool with their daughter Anushree.

“We were packing up to go home and didn’t realise Anushree had jumped back into the pool. By chance, my husband saw Anushree’s head bobbing up and down, and she was gasping for air. He immediately dived into the water to pull her out,” recalls the mother of two.