Days after a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor, Gabriel Diya drowned in a pool in Spain with his two children, the sad incident has been blamed on human error and poor pool design by an expert. Allen Wilson, said to be one of the leading swimming pool experts who investigate pool deaths alleged that human error and poor pool design contributed to the tragic incident which occurred at the famous Costa Del Sol in Spain. The British pool expert who held the coveted role as President of the Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers believes that photos of the pool show real danger as there was only a “single domestic pool outlet instead of two separate outlets as suggested by the Federation of Tour Operators guidelines for holiday complexes.”
According to Wilson, if there had been two outlets the vacuum pressure would have been halved; but this was not the case in the tragic incident. He added that swimming pools in Spain are considerably less up to standard than those in the UK. He said; "I have investigated many deaths of children and adults abroad for UK and foreign tour operators including TUI and Thomas Cook.“Due to the traumatic nature of this incident, my company would offer to travel to Spain for the family to carry out a report, free of charge."In this case, it appears from the family statements and witness accounts all to point to an excessive suction vacuum.
"I have seen the news reports and images and video of the pool with police divers and the actual pool appears to have been badly designed with just one outlet at the bottom of the pool."In my experience, this is likely to have been a contributing factor in the deaths."The daughter appears to have got into trouble along with her father and brother who seem to have been dragged underwater which can be a sign of a huge vacuum."This is usually caused by human error from turning off the skimmers - an overflow system that takes surplus water away - causing massive suction from the outlet at the bottom of the pool during the cleaning of pool filters or maintenance."The pressure of suction and current becomes enormous and when it starts dragging water in the pool towards it there is often no escape unless the pump is turned off manually."Swimming away from the current becomes very, very difficult if not impossible once it gets you in its grips.
"If there had been two outlets the vacuum pressure would have been halved but from what I have seen if you swam near the one vacuum you wouldn't get away."In my experience, abroad many swimming pools have poor design or maintenance and standards are not the same as in the UK they are constructed to local standards instead which are not as stringent."Police are also not equipped to do this type of investigation it has to be done by specialists."There needs to be an immediate and impartial investigation by an independent swimming pool expert to examine the pool and its surroundings to find out what went wrong."
