Tragic! 10-year-old girl found dead in a swimming pool in KZN

A 10-year-old girl was found dead in a swimming pool in the Umhlanga business district on Friday evening. 

THE GIRL WAS SADLY DECLARED DEAD ON THE SCENE

Netcare911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst said paramedics responded on Friday evening.

“At 19H04 Friday evening, Netcare 911 responded to a drowning at a complex in the Umhlanga business district.” 

He said reports from the scene indicate that a 10-year-old girl was found unresponsive in the complex swimming pool.

“When paramedics arrived on the scene, the child had already been pulled out the pool.”

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Herbst said a Netcare 911 emergency care practitioner assessed the girl but showed no life signs and was sadly declared deceased on the scene.

“Circumstances leading up to the incident are not clear.” 

Netcare said men and children are most at risk of drowning, according to statistics accumulated by the Netcare Medibank database during the past five years. 

Over the five-year period, more than half of all incidents took place in Gauteng, and a third in KwaZulu-Natal. The Western Cape was a distant third, reflecting six percent of all incidents.

People with swimming pools should have several layers of safety such as a safety net, a fence with a lockable gate, a surface alarm, and a child-minder to accidents.

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What to do in an emergency:

• In an emergency, the first priority is to get the victim out of the water. 
• Make sure it is safe to enter the water. Do not become a victim yourself. If the victim is struggling, give him or her something to hold on to, such as a branch or a floatation device. Remember that someone who is panicking can drag the person trying to help into danger too.
• Handle the victim with care to avoid aggravating a potential neck or back injury. Many people are injured while diving headfirst into the water without having checked the depth of the water.
• If you are with other people, have someone call emergency medical services for help. Memorise the number of emergency medical services in your area, save it on your cell phone and keep it written down next to your landline telephone. You can contact Netcare 911 on 082 911 from anywhere in the country. 
• However, give the dispatcher an accurate location of the scene as well as a contact number. Do not hang up.
• A basic course in first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can make a dramatic difference in an emergency if it is done correctly and timeously.