Tragedy in pool while parents distracted

FIJI – A family in Fiji is mourning the loss of their nine-year-old son who drowned in a resort swimming pool in Nadi earlier this week.

Kushal Lakshman was playing in the pool with his family and disappeared under the water while his father’s back was turned.

Father, Muni Nadan, 38, said they were still coming to terms with the incident.

“My son loved swimming and he asked me if we could go to the pool for a swim,” he said.

“I went to put my mobile in my bag when he jumped with the ball into the adult pool.

“When I came back I asked my wife where my son was and that’s when we found him at the bottom of the pool.”

Nadan said he and his wife both jumped in the pool to bring their son’s body to the surface.

According to the owner of resort, CCTV video footage showed 18 people all enjoying themselves in the pool during the incident. He said they were still trying to come to terms with how no one saw the child drowning.

The resort owner said: “The boy tried to retrieve the ball he threw a few metres and all of a sudden the ball slipped from his hand, for three to four minutes he was going up and down and people might have thought he was playing, even the parents were with him in the pool.

“The father came down the slide and started calling for his son; one of the men standing nearby then told them there was a black object in the pool and that’s when they tried to get him out of the water,” he said.

The resort owner said they tried resuscitating him on their way to the hospital but upon arrival at the hospital he was pronounced dead.

Police spokesperson Naina Ragigia confirmed the incident: “An investigation is underway into the drowning incident.”

Nadan said that his late son wanted to become a veterinarian since he loved animal and kept most of them as pets. - FT