Death Of Boy, 5, Who Drowned In Holiday Park Swimming Pool Was An Accident, Inquest Rules

The death of a five-year-old boy who drowned in a holiday park swimming pool after becoming separated from his parents was an accident, an inquest jury has ruled.

Robin Caliskan was found at the bottom of the indoor pool at the Atlantic Reach Holiday Park, near Newquay in Cornwall, by members of the public, after going for a swim with his family in July last year.

After becoming separated from his parents, he was discovered face down in the pool and died, despite the efforts of members of the public and paramedics to resuscitate him.

A post-mortem found Robin, from Plymouth in Devon, died from drowning, and an inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

The jury said frosted glass separating the baby pool from the main pool “misled each parent to believe the deceased was safe with the other parent”.

Robin’s father, Cemal Caliskan, told the inquest he thought his son was with his mother in the larger pool, while he was in the baby pool with his other child.

Mr Caliskan, originally from Turkey, said: “Robin was just playing there, my wife was heading to the big pool and Robin said ‘Can I go please?’

“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’.”

The larger pool was too crowded for him to be “100% sure” if they were together, he said, adding: “I could just see my wife and there was a child next to my wife and I thought that was Robin. I was sure he was with her.”

The jury said Robin was unsupervised for a “brief period” following “a miscommunication between the parents”.

No lifeguards were employed at the swimming pool and the holiday park had no legal obligation to have any, Anne Marie Jameson, a health and safety enforcement officer at Cornwall Council, told the inquest.

However, Ms Jameson said the park met only the current minimum standards and she believed “there is the risk of future deaths”.

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The boy died on the first day of a three-day camping stay at the resort in July last year. The inquest heard the family went to the pool soon after arriving and setting up their tent.

The hearing heard there had been a near miss previously when an elderly man suffered a medical episode while using the swimming pool.

Andrew Cox, the senior coroner for Cornwall, said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to Atlantic Reach because of his “ongoing concerns”.