A British toddler has died in a Spanish hospital after being found unresponsive in a hotel swimming pool during a family holiday in the Canary Islands. The one-year-old spent several days in intensive care following the incident on June 15 before her death was confirmed.
The child was discovered floating in the water at an unnamed apartment complex in Lajares, a village in the northern part of Fuerteventura. Emergency services were alerted around 9:50 a.m. when the child was found unconscious and showing signs of drowning.
First responders initiated resuscitation efforts, successfully restoring the child's pulse. She was then airlifted in critical condition to the Materno Infantil University Hospital on Gran Canaria, where she was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Medical efforts to save her life proved unsuccessful due to what were described as 'irreversible neurological damage.'
Authorities, including the Civil Guard and local police, are investigating the circumstances surrounding how the toddler entered the pool. A judicial investigation is ongoing.
This incident is the third child drowning in Spain in the span of a week. On the preceding Saturday, a four-year-old British girl drowned in a hotel pool in Lanzarote. The week before, a four-year-old British boy died after falling into a swimming pool at a holiday home near the Costa del Sol.
Sebastian Quintana, president of the maritime safety organization Canarias 1500 Km de Costa, expressed condolences to the family and reiterated the importance of constant supervision for young children around water.