Two girls drown in Bangkok swimming pool

[PeteC]

There is something terribly wrong with this story, perhaps the journalism/investigative effort. Regardless, the Mother is worrying about police reports within 24 hours of losing both of her children. If it was me I'd be in shock and not even thinking about things like that for many a day. Something stinks here. Pete


Two girls drown in Bangkok swimming pool

Published: 1/10/2012 at 03:12 PM
Online news: Crimes

A woman has filed a complaint with police against a health club after her two daughters drowned in the club’s swimming pool.

Wipaporn Swaengchanyasanti, 29, has demanded that the BB Training health club, located on Soi Chok Chai 4, take responsibility for the deaths of her daughters Supaporn, 9, and Suchada, 7.

She told police that she had taken the girls to a swimming class at the club as usual on Sunday.

After the class she told them to stay in the pool a little longer as she had to got to the restroom for a few minutes. When she came back she could not find the girls in the pool.

Ms Wipaporn said she looked around the clubhouse for a while and when she returned to the pool, club staff were pulling their bodies from the pool.

The mother admitted that it was partly her fault for not keeping an eye on her daughters the whole time. However, she said she thought that there were lifeguards or pool staff to keep a lookout for their customers.

She said she was puzzled that nobody saw the incident which happened in broad daylight. She demanded that the club take responsibility for the carelessness.

Police said they would question the club owner about the security at the swimming pool.

There had also been a report about a child being electrocuted in the pool before, police said.

[advocate]

I'm told drowning is the second leading cause of death in Thailand of children, the number one cause being road accidents.

Many parents here seem oblivious to the dangers. Perhaps it's the lack of public education, but i see many parents who let their kids play on the road and who do not watch them all of the time when they are in swimming pools.

One mother left her toddler son floating on an air mattress in the pool and left to do laundry. She seemed totally surprised to discover he was drowned when she returned!

There are very, very, few Thais who I would trust to watch my child.

[bonnielass]

This is the most awful thing to happen to any parent. My heart goes out to the mother.
The poor woman will never forgive herself for leaving her children unattended.

A friend of mine lost her toddler in a drowning accident a couple of years ago. The child was having his afternoon nap and she went outside to hang some washing. In the space of a few minutes the boy slipped out of the kitchen door and drowned in the pool. Tragedies like this can happen to anyone.

[advocate]

I have empathy for anyone who loses a child. But, if you are going to have a pool, it needs to be secured by fencing and secure gates and doors. A simple latch at the top of a door, unreachable by children, may save a life.

I will not have a pool until my child is old enough to be out of danger. In the meantime he attends swimming lessons 3x per week. Unfortunately, many Thai children are never taught to swim.