Eight-year-old girl drowns at family fun day
Koketso Kgoboge | Wednesday April 4, 2018 17:00
Palapye Police station commander superintendent Waboraro Ramaja confirmed the incident, stating that the young girl was certified dead on arrival at Palapye Primary Hospital.
“We suspect negligence and carelessness on the part of those who were responsible,” he said.
“In these kind of events, especially with minors lifeguards must be around the swimming pool and on high alert at all times.”
According to one of the organisers, Bakang Molosiwa the pool was packed when the incident happened.
He said lifesavers were in place and a lot of good swimmers that included adults were in the pool and could have acted but were caught unaware.
He said the deceased’s age mates were playing water games in the big pool and that caused them to believe all the children in the big pool were good swimmers.
“It is very unfortunate that everyone was caught unaware, we only noticed the young girl when it was already late,” he said.
“We did everything under the sun to ensure the family fun day was safe for all but this was just an unfortunate accident and we are deeply saddened as everyone is.”
He added, “Sometimes is up to all of us to keep in check of how the person next to you is, but it’s a huge lesson to us as organisers to ensure people are kept alert at all times”.
He said the organising team has met with the girl’s family and they had an understanding and they are assisting with funeral arrangements.