Girl Nearly Killed When Her Hair Got Caught in a Hotel Pool Filter

Pool safety is incredibly important for parents of young children. But while we as parents can teach our children to swim, and warn them to stay away from drains and other potentially dangerous areas, that doesn’t mean pool owners should be exempt from making sure their pools are safe for use. You’d hope safety would be on everyone’s mind, right? But in a recent Facbook post, one mother warns others about how her daughter was nearly killed when her hair got caught in a hotel pool filter. The story of how it happened, and the hotel’s response, are both incredibly upsetting.

Stay-at-home mom Alex Morgan was recently on holiday at the H10 Rubicon Palace (a First Choice hotel) in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote””part of the Canary Islands. Just a few days before they were set to go back home, Morgan’s 6-year-old daughter, Darcey, went for a swim in the hotel’s pool.

What Happened Next…

“Darcey was swimming under water when her hair got sucked into the filter that operates a waterfall in the swimming pool. Her hair was stuck and she was unable to get up to the surface. She was kept under the water for over 2 minutes,” Morgan’s Facebook post recalls.

“Some incredibly brave people saved our little girls life that day. Her hair was pulled and pulled before it was ripped. Darcey was unconscious and had to be given CPR at the poolside. She was taken by ambulance to Arecife Hospital where she underwent x-rays, tests and was under close observation. Her oxygen levels were low and she has lots of fluid on her right lung. Luckily we got to bring Darcey out of hospital the following morning. However, it could have been a completely different ending to our holiday.”

That in and of itself is horrifying. According to the Brain Injury Foundation, “irreversible brain damage starts to occur within 5 minutes” of going without oxygen, and this story could have ended completely different. Fortunately, those who rescued her were quick to act, but that doesn’t mean this young girl won’t suffer from the trauma of a near-death experience for months or even years to come. What’s worse is that hotel allegedly isn’t even doing anything to apologize or remedy the situation.

“We booked this holiday through First Choice who told us that they were flying out members of management to the hotel with their health and safety team to fully investigate and make the waterfall/filter safe. Un be known (sic) to First Choice, we still had friends staying at the hotel who confirmed that there was no presence of anyone at the hotel and no works/investigations carried out. It therefore appears to me that First Choice value the contracts with their hotels more than the safety of their customers,” Morgan added in her post.

This is unacceptable and hopefully First Choice actually do something about this terribly near-tragedy, including compensating the Morgan family for the incident and fixing their pool so no other children get hurt.

(Image: Facebook / Alex Morgan)