The cause of the incident remains unclear. The details leading up to and surrounding the near drowning are also vague.
Netcare911 Paramedics received a report of a near drowning at the fitness facility and responded to the scene. They arrived to find that the boy had been pulled from the water by his swimming coach, South African Olympic Swimmer Terence Parkin.
It is thought that the boy had been submerged for nearly three minutes and was unresponsive when plucked from the water. Parkin initiated the resuscitation attempt and started CPR while medics made their way to the scene. They took over care of the boy who responded well to medical interventions. His condition improved and he was transported by ambulance to the Netcare Garden City Hospital in a stable condition.
In the event of a drowning one should execute the following;
Get the victim out of the water as soon as possible, but do not become a victim yourself. Make sure it is safe for you to enter the water first.
Handle the victim with care. Many submersion incidents are associated with neck injuries, so keep movement to the back and neck to a minimum.
Assess to see if the victim is awake or not.
Check for breathing. If the victim is not breathing, administer two slow rescue breaths ensuring that the victim’s chest JUST starts to rise.
If the victim shows no response to the rescue breaths, start CPR.
CPR is vital, even if it is an amateur administering it. Keep on doing it until someone who is trained in advanced life support arrives and can take over. All parents should learn how to administer child CPR as it does differ from adult CPR. There has also recently been a worldwide revision in the CPR technique and it is vital that even current first aiders be retrained according to the new protocols.
Call, or have someone call, the emergency services as early as possible during this sequence. Whoever calls for the ambulance must give the dispatcher an accurate location of the incident and a contact number at the scene. Never hang up on the operator and always return to the rescuer to inform them that you have called for help.
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