What happened at the Parisian swimming pool Georges-Hermant? A 6-year-old girl was hospitalized and placed in an artificial coma after being found lifeless at the bottom of a swimming pool during a swimming lesson, the mayor of the 19th arrondissement told AFP on Monday.
The CP student, educated in a school in this district in the northeast of the capital, was taking part in a swimming lesson in the school setting when she was “found at the bottom of the water” in the Georges- Hermant, near Buttes-Chaumont, said François Dagnaud, the mayor of the 19th arrondissement.
A supervisor dived to bring her to the surface and after resuscitation, she was taken to hospital by firefighters, several sources said. At Debré hospital, she “was placed in an artificial coma to facilitate care,” said François Dagnaud.
A “normal” heart rate
According to a source familiar with the matter, the young girl was still unconscious on Monday evening, but her heart rate was “normal”. Thirty CP students, three split classes from this school, “witnessed the accident and the resuscitation,” said François Dagnaud. According to the entourage of sports assistant Pierre Rabadan, a second class was also on the scene.
According to François Dagnaud, the supervision was “well beyond what the texts provide” with, in addition to the two lifeguards of the swimming pool, managed by a private operator within the framework of a public service market, two sports teachers and two sports educators from the City of Paris, as well as three school teachers.
An open psychological cell
An investigation has been opened and the swimming pool, closed after the accident, will remain closed on Tuesday, said Pierre Rabadan.
A psychological unit has been set up for students, their parents, agents and pool staff, said the two elected officials.
If there was “no defect as to the number of adults, something did not happen as planned”, added François Dagnaud for whom “the accident should not have occurred”.