Notorious pool claims another life: 5-year-old child drowns

Nurgül Kocakaya, a resident of the Şehzadeler district in Manisa, took her children, 5-year-old Halil Umut and 4-year-old Onur Kocakaya, to a pool in the Karaağaçlı neighborhood on August 16.

According to DHA reports, while Kocakaya went to pay the bill, her son Halil Umut Kocakaya disappeared from sight under a bridge in the adult pool he had entered. After a while, the child's motionless body surfaced. Neither the swimmers nor the pool staff noticed Halil, who remained motionless on the water's surface for approximately 3 minutes. After someone at the pool called out, a lifeguard headed over and pulled the child's motionless body from the water. Those moments were captured on the pool's security cameras. Despite initial intervention at the pool and being rushed to Manisa City Hospital, Halil could not be saved.

The facility manager, Selçuk Kuş, has been arrested. Efforts to apprehend S.Ö., for whom an arrest warrant has been issued, are ongoing, and the pool, which was determined to be unlicensed, has been sealed.

8-YEAR-OLD CHILD ALSO DROWNED 3 YEARS AGO

It was learned that the pool, where 8-year-old Yusuf Asaf Tiktaş also drowned on July 7, 2021, was not sealed at that time. It was stated that the judicial process regarding Tiktaş's death is still ongoing in the appellate court. The Kocakaya family's lawyer, Haşim Çelik, stated the following:

"There is a chain of negligence from start to finish. It has been observed that the commercial outdoor swimming pool facility where the incident occurred does not have a license.

It has been determined that the person declared as the lifeguard on duty at the workplace did not have a lifeguard training certificate and was working without insurance. It was also determined that there were no employees at the workplace with first aid certificates.

RESPONSIBLE MANAGER LACKS HEALTH TRAINING

It was determined that there were no additional physical precautions in the adult pool against children potentially falling in or entering either consciously or unconsciously. It could not be proven that the person who declared themselves the responsible manager had received training in chemistry or health, or that they were at least a high school graduate.

It was also determined that there were no life-saving materials such as ropes, floating buoys, or life rings in the adult swimming pool, and that there were no first aid materials near the pool. The employer neglected the obligation to have first aid personnel on site; therefore, the drowning child was deprived of proper first aid application during the incident."

News Source: 12punto