Swimming lessons tragic in Montreal: a young teenager would have spent twenty minutes under the water

News 15 February, 2018

PHOTO AGENCE QMI, MAXIME DELAND

Maxime Deland

Thursday, 15 February 2018 12:39

UPDATE
Thursday, 15 February 2018 14:06

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A 14-year-old lies in a critical state in hospital after having spent twenty minutes under the water during his swimming lessons, Thursday morning, to the swimming pool at the Centre Père-Marquette in Montreal.

The tragedy happened a little after 9 a.m., while the victim, a student of the école Père-Marquette, mi, took a course of swimming in the company of his classmates.

The course was given by the teacher, in collaboration with the lifeguard of the pool.

Nobody would have seen that the teenager was missing after the course is completed, while the teacher, the rescuer and the group of students were leaving the pool.

It is only when the swimming lesson has commenced that a student would have noticed something at the bottom of the water: it was unfortunately for the young victim.

The teenager was pulled out of the water and cpr was initiated.

According to our information, the victim would have remained about 20 minutes under the water before someone noticed.

It seems that the reflections in the water prevented the guards from seeing the deep part of the pool from where they were.

The student was rushed to the hospital in a condition deemed very critical.

Suffering from a nervous shock, a young woman has also taken on the way to the hospital in an ambulance.

Visibly shaken, the employees of the Centre Père-Marquette took in their arms in the lobby of the hotel a few minutes after the events. They did not wish to comment on the unfortunate incident.

Several witnesses had to be interviewed during the course of the next few hours to try to establish the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

“From our side, we have deployed a task force composed of professionals from the students and staff of the school. We have a protocol in place in this kind of situation,” said Alain Perron, spokesperson for the Commission scolaire de Montréal.