A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD child is in a critical condition after nearly drowning in a hotel swimming pool in Lanzarote.
He was one of a number of tourists at the resort on the Avenida Islas Canarias in Teguise at around 14.00 on Friday, but the lifeguard spotted his predicament very quickly and rushed to his aid.
The guard was carrying out CPR on the boy when paramedics reached the scene, since he had no pulse and was not breathing.
Ambulance workers took over and also used a defibrillator, eventually managing to restart his heart and respiration.
Once they established a constant pulse, paramedics took him to the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital, where he remains in a serious condition in intensive care.
Already, two small children have drowned in swimming pools in Spain in as many weeks, both of whom were also pulled out of the water in cardiac arrest.
One was in Málaga and the other in Dénia (Alicante province), both aged three and in pools at private villas.
They were taken to hospital and intubated, but died days later without regaining consciousness.
Parents and guardians are warned to be extra-vigilant around swimming pools and, if they have a pool at home, to install a guard or a cover at all times when it is not in use.
Photograph: A swimming pool in a private villa (Wikimedia Commons)
