Gironde firefighters confirm to 20 minutes that they intervened on Sunday evening in the town of Ambarès-et-Lagrave, in Gironde, for a serious domestic accident. A 3-year-old boy drowned in a private swimming pool, in a context that remains to be clarified.
The dome covering the water was ajar
According to the first elements of the investigation, the child, who was visiting his father, fell into the water despite the presence of a rigid dome covering the pool. “The child apparently took advantage of a moment when this dome was ajar, a priori for a cleaning operation, to approach the water and fall,” said the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office, confirming information from the Sud Ouest newspaper.
The investigations entrusted to the gendarmes will continue “in order to determine whether there was recklessness, inattention or negligence at the origin of this situation”, added the prosecution.
The Public Health France health agency, in its Drownings 2021 survey covering the period June 1-August 31, recorded 1,119 accidental drownings (including 250 fatalities), a figure down 9% compared to its previous report in 2018. In 2021, 22% of accidental drownings occurred in a private family pool, according to the same source.