Plymouth boy, 5, drowned in holiday park pool in tragic accident
A five-year-old boy tragically drowned in a holiday park swimming pool after becoming separated from his parents, an inquest jury has ruled. Robin Caliskan, from Plymouth, was discovered at the bottom of the indoor pool at Atlantic Reach Holiday Park, near Newquay, Cornwall, by members of the public, following a family swim.
The Truro inquest heard that the incident occurred on the first day of a three-day camping trip to the resort in July last year. Shortly after setting up their tent and arriving, the family decided to take a dip in the park's indoor pool.
After losing sight of his parents, Robin was found face down in the water, and despite attempts by the public and paramedics to revive him, he sadly passed away. The inquest revealed that Atlantic Reach did not employ lifeguards at the swimming pool, and there was no legal obligation for them to do so.
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A post-mortem examination confirmed that Robin had died from drowning, and the inquest jury concluded it was an accidental death. "A miscommunication between the parents led to a brief and unintentional period of time where the deceased was unsupervised," the jury stated. "There were no company staff whose role was to spot the dangers within the pool area or monitor safety."
They added: "This included the reception staff who had no sight of the pool. This is in line with the company's policies and risk assessments."
The inquest heard that the frosted glass separating the baby pool from the main pool led each parent to believe the other was supervising their son. Robin was discovered unresponsive in the busy pool by another user, who removed him from the water with the help of other members of the public. They initiated basic life support and alerted reception staff.
During the inquest, Robin's father, Cemal Caliskan, explained that he thought his son was with his mother in the larger pool while he was in the baby pool with their other child. "Robin was just playing there, my wife was heading to the big pool and Robin said 'Can I go please?', Mr Caliskan said.
"He wanted to go with my wife, his mum, and I said 'OK, but you need to stay with your mum, go with your mum'. Then he followed my wife. It was so crowded in the big pool I can't be 100% sure if Robin was following my wife or beside her."
"I could just see my wife and there was a child next to my wife and I thought that was Robin." He added: "I was sure he was with her."
Photos shown at the inquest revealed signs posted at the pool, including rules in the men's and women's changing rooms stating, "No lifeguard on duty" with another sign at the poolside.
The hearing also learned of a previous near-miss incident in which an elderly man suffered a medical episode while using the swimming pool. Anne Marie Jameson, a health and safety enforcement officer at Cornwall Council, said there was no legal obligation to have lifeguards, and the holiday park was not prosecuted after Robin’s death.
She said: “They meet the minimum standards currently. It is minimum standards, however, given they have had one fatality and one near fatality I would expect the company to do much more than they are.
“In my opinion there is the risk of future deaths. The park has the duty of care to risk assess the premises, but I cannot and do not have the enforcement powers to request to put lifeguards on.
“There is no legal requirement to have lifeguards. However, a business that is so busy, not to have pool attendants within their risk assessment processes is a little bit strange, it is unusual, but that doesn’t mean it is illegal.”
Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall, said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to Atlantic Reach because of his “ongoing concerns”. He said: “Drowning in general is something I see. It is more unusual to see it in a pool setting, which is a more controlled environment than the sea or the coast.
“I am going to find there are ongoing concerns here that I need to address. I will write a report to Atlantic Reach, but it will not be saying they must employ lifeguards.
“I will be saying they need to review their risk assessment in light of the evidence at the inquest and they need to assess whether there is a need for a lifeguard service to be introduced at particular times in the future.”