5-Year-Old Girl Drowns in Centreville Pool

Fairfax County police are investigating the apparent drowning of a five-year-old girl at a private pool in Centreville. via NewsChannel 8

[jay]

how could a girl drown in a 4 feet water depth?

where were the life guards? was their job to watch the kids in the pool or what?

is it possible to drown without making any signs for help?

[Michele]

I'm no expert, but children/anyone can drown in any depth of water, for example a bathtub. Perhaps she fell and hit her head and could not make any distress calls. I'm sure we'll soon find out what the investigators uncover. But to comment regarding the lifeguards - it sounds as if they should have been paying more attention, that's for sure!

[jane]

jay wrote:

how could a girl drown in a 4 feet water depth?
where were the life guards? was their job to watch the kids in the pool or what?
is it possible to drown without making any signs for help?

Apparently...what perfect world do you live in?

[Razan]

My famiy was very close to Jana's famly. Jana was vey smart and very calm, she loved to draw.She was very pretty and lively. It is the lifegaurd's fault because they should have been paying attention to all the kids and be ready to help. We are all mourning her loss.

[Charlie]

Razan wrote:

My famiy was very close to Jana's famly. Jana was vey smart and very calm, she loved to draw.She was very pretty and lively. It is the lifegaurd's fault because they should have been paying attention to all the kids and be ready to help. We are all mourning her loss.

It can't be totally the blame of the life guards because the father should have been in the pool with her and not in a hot tub that was at least 15-20 feet away and not the 3-4 feet away that was reported.

[Ladan]

All kids should be supervised when in water that deep or more. I wonder if she was wearing those inflator things on her arms? That would've saved her.

[Martha]

jay wrote:

how could a girl drown in a 4 feet water depth?
where were the life guards? was their job to watch the kids in the pool or what?
is it possible to drown without making any signs for help?

I am an American Red Cross water safety instructor. Anyone can drown in 4 feet of water. Not everyone struggles when they are drowning. In fact children rarely do. It only takes seconds and within a few moments it is too late. All non-swimming children should be within arms reach of an adult when in the pool. In order to be without adult direct supervision in a pool your child should be able to swim at least 25 meters continuously without stopping, retrieve an object off the bottom of the pool in water level over their head, and be able to tread water for 3 minutes. The lifeguard is and will always be your last hope. Children die silently and quickly. It is a shame that when there is a tragedy we are quick to blame. Typically the death of a child in a swimming pool is lack of education and understanding. Let's hope that we can learn from this and make the changes necessary in our own lives and pass this information along. I also recommend that all parents check the following link out. http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/aquatics... .