Girl drowns in resort swimming pool during her birthday celebrations near Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: A five-year-old girl drowned in a swimming pool during her birthday celebrations with her parents and brother at a resort on the East Coast Road in Villupuram district on Tuesday.
Kottakuppam police inspector R Viswanathan said Sushanth Thoubal, hailing from Uttarakhand, an officer at L&T posted in the Bengaluru office, his wife Srimathi Naiwal, son Barjanya, 10, and daughter Devi Farnika, 5, came to Puducherry in a car on Jan 26.
The family stayed in a villa in a resort at Manjakuppam. After visiting several tourist spots in Puducherry, they celebrated Devi’s birthday in the resort on Tuesday. They reached the swimming pool where the man and the son were on the deeper side while his wife and daughter left for the room after spending time in the shallow part of the pool, said the inspector.
However, within a few minutes, his daughter came and played in the pool's shallow part. She drowned accidentally, and the man, seeing her drowning, could not reach her on time.
The guards in the resort rescued her. She was rushed to a private medical college hospital in Kalapet, where a doctor on duty declared her dead.
The Kottakuppam police registered a case and began investigations. The body of the girl was handed over to the parents after postmortem.
Viswanathan said the lifeguards at the resorts keep a distance when family members spend private time at the pool. “The resort management claimed that families venturing into the pool with children less than 10 years are responsible for their safety. The management displayed a board in this regard. It was a lifeguard who rescued the girl before her father came to her rescue. The girl was alive when she was rescued but died on the way to the hospital,” said Viswanathan.