Laurence Dollimore
PSYCHOLOGISTS are on hand tonight after a father, son and daughter drowned in a swimming pool on the Costa del Sol.
They will be treating the mother and brother, who lost three family members in the shocking Christmas Eve tragedy at the Club La Costa resort this afternoon.
The tragedy unfolded at around 1.30pm when the nine-year-old girl, believed to be British, came into trouble in one of the resort’s pools.
According to local sources, one theory is that the girl was dragged underwater by the pool’s suction system, before her 16-year-old brother, understood to be American, and father, 53, suffered the same fate after jumping in to save her.
However specialist divers have been called to the site to investigate further while official sources say the investigation remains open.
According to Europa Press, the family had arrived a few days ago and were staying in one of the resort’s apartments.
After the mother and brother raised the alarm, workers at the resort rushed to the pool.
One of the employees, an experienced swimmer, is reported to have helped recover the bodies from the water before reporting to the arriving officers how difficult it was to get out of the pool.
Several employees and another tourist frantically tried to perform CPR before the resort’s doctor arrived and coordinated first aid ahead of the arrival of the emergency services.
A holidaymaker staying at the resort said she saw ‘bodies covered in white sheets’ by the side of the pool, and could hear ‘a woman crying aloud’.
Tanya Aamer, 23, from Birmingham, told Sky News: “The atmosphere as I was walking past is indescribable.
“Obviously we’ve never been in that situation before so we kind just began walking slowly in a slight state of confusion as to what we’re witnessing and eventually when we got to the bottom it was just silent, no talking or anything.”
Another witness who helped perform CPR described the scene to Diario Sur as ‘horrific’.
The bodies have been transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Malaga ahead of an autopsy tomorrow.
Psychologists will also be on hand for witnesses to the incident, including resort staff.
CLC World Resorts & Hotels, which manages the resort, told the Olive Press: “Management at Club La Costa World resort would like to offer its heartfelt condolences to the family affected by the loss of three family members on December 24 2019.
“The guests were found unresponsive in one of the resort’s pools.
“First response teams and emergency services attended and administered first aid.
“The management are assisting the authorities fully with their investigation into the deaths.
“We would like to thank our first response team and the emergency services for their quick and appropriate responses and our staff for the continuing support of the family at this time.”
Emergency 112 confirmed the ages of the deceased to this paper but said they had not yet confirmed the nationalities.
However a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are offering assistance to a British woman following an incident in Spain.”
