• 16:20
  • Tuesday ,21 May 2013
العربية

Father of five-year-old who drowned in Egypt tells of attempt to save her

By The Telegraph

Home News

00:05

Tuesday ,21 May 2013

Father of five-year-old who drowned in Egypt tells of attempt to save her
Sarah Thompson and Tony Johnson, parents of Chloe Johnson, said there were no lifeguards at the pool and no help on hand to help save her life.
 
Mr Johnson was left to make the first attempts to resuscitate his daughter at the side of the pool in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, and they waited an hour for a doctor to arrive.
 
"It was just me at the beginning. I had done it all and then other people said there was a nurse," he told ITV’s Daybreak.
 
He said they were left without a doctor for at least an hour and they had to wait for four hours before officials came to collect their daughter's body.
 
Miss Thompson said: "There was no CPR, there was no resuscitation for Chloe, we were just left to our own devices. There was no professional on hand. "There was no doctor for at least an hour. There was nothing there for her."
 
She said the tragedy had happened after they had gone to buy some drinks and snacks at the Coral Sea Waterworld Hotel.
 
"We went to go and get Chloe and Sadie (her other daughter) some snacks and some drinks... she is 15 and she was there whilst we went off to get the drinks and some food - I came back with the drinks in my hand and walked around the pool twice and we couldn't find her."
 
She said her daughter, who underwent heart surgery when she was just four-years-old, was "very healthy and very happy".
 
The couple were speaking after the headteacher of Chloe's school paid tribute to the little girl, from Forest Hill, south east London, describing her as "artistic and creative, always trying her best".
 
Andy Mathieson, headteacher of Kelvin Grove Primary School in Sydenham, south east London, said: "The whole school community is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Chloe Johnson and our thoughts and prayers go to her family and friends at this difficult time.
 
"Chloe was a popular little girl with many friends. She was a real pleasure to teach - she worked hard and was artistic and creative, always trying her best.
 
"She was well-liked by all the other children and had made many friends at Kelvin Grove. She is a huge loss to our school."
 
In an interview with The Sunday People Miss Thompson said she and Mr Johnson had left Chloe by the side of the shallow toddler pool. "She was playing with her little friend. I explained to her twice, called her, told her exactly where we were before we went to get a drink.”
 
"She went to the wave pool which was supposed to be manned by two lifeguards, but there were none there."
 
Travel company First Choice has said it is working with the hotel to find out what happened.
 
Ashraf Khalil, general manager of the Coral Sea Waterworld, said on Saturday: "The hotel is waiting to finalise its investigation into what happened together with the official investigation of the Egyptian district attorney and Egyptian police.
 
"We are also, in collaboration with First Choice, flying in investigators from the UK today."
 
About one million tourists from the UK visited Egypt last year, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.