Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Inquest Rules 11-Year-Old’s Drowning in Shallow Hotel Pool Accidental

The Cheshire coroner concluded the death was accidental, noting a very shallow pool with no determinable mechanism of submersion.

Overview

  • Francesca Blease, 11, was found face down in the children’s pool at the Club Jandia Princess Hotel in Fuerteventura on 7 August and died the next day in Las Palmas after severe brain hypoxia.
  • Two medically trained holidaymakers—a midwife and an intensive care physiotherapist—performed CPR before she was airlifted to hospital.
  • Evidence recorded the pool depth at 10–60cm, with the coroner stating there was no foreseeable risk for a child of her age in those conditions.
  • The inquest heard she could not swim and was fearful of water, and that she was not directly supervised when she was discovered.
  • An expert proposed she may have lost balance and inhaled water, while reports of a breath‑holding game were rejected as hearsay.