A NINE-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool while playing with friends yesterday. The incident happened at around 9.30am when Bahraini Mahmood Radhi Ebrahim Al Shajjar was swimming with a group of children in a pool near Adhari Park hired out to groups.
He was swimming with his friends under the supervision of a coach and everyone was playing and having fun, said his uncle Nabeel Ebrahim Al Hayki.
"No one noticed him drown, but only saw him when his body floated to the surface."
Paramedics were unable to revive Mahmood and he was declared dead at the scene, said Mr Al Hayki
"His parents and all the family members are in deep shock."
Mahmood, a pupil at Khamis Boys Primary School was buried in the village cemetery at 4.30pm.
He is survived by his parents Ebra-him Al Shaj-jar, mother Nohad Al Hayki, sister Rabab, 16 and two brot-hers, Jawad, 15, and Ebra-him, 12.
In another incident, a four-year-old Bahraini boy was said to be in critical condition after his parents rescued him from a swimming pool in Mahooz.
Mohammed Hussain Ali was admitted to Salmaniya Medical Complex's paediatric intensive care unit, where he was later said to be still unconscious.
Sources told the GDN that the family had gone to a private pool hired out to families and Mohammed fell into the water while playing.
They spotted him in the water after realising he was missing and pulled him unconscious from the water, said the sources.
The GDN on May 31 reported that police were launching a nationwide safety campaign in the hope of a tragedy-free summer.
It is focusing on how to keep children safe while playing near the sea or at swimming pools.
Community police officers are distributing pamphlets in shopping malls and there are various other awareness campaigns.
Coastguard and Civil Defence teams have been put on special alert at beaches and other public places.
Lack of adult supervision is one of the main reasons why children drown in the sea, swimming pools, ponds and even in bathtubs, Interior Ministry health and social affairs directorate physician Lieutenant Colonel Zahra Khalifa said at the time.
Four children drowned in Bahrain last summer.
Nine-month-old Egyptian twins Al Batool and Al Anood Ahmed Othman died in June after their grandmother reportedly left them unattended in the bath.
Bahraini Fatima Mohammed Ismail, seven, drowned the following month in a swimming pool on Amwaj Islands.
In August, Bahraini Mohammed Younis Marhoon, four, drowned in a swimming pool because none of the family members present could swim.
In April this year, Indian Mohammed Akmal Mohammed Riaz Baig died after falling into a bucket of water at his home in Muharraq, shortly before his first birthday.
Following these tragedies, Bahrain Health and Safety Society and two municipal councillors called for lifeguards at all swimming pools.
However, families and pool owners said the presence of men at poolsides would be an invasion of privacy and go against Islamic traditions.
aneeqa@gdn.com.bh
