A 12-year-old Portuguese boy nearly drowned before being rescued from the pool of Monte Gordo’s four-star Yellow Hotel on Tuesday (June 21).
A GNR source told the Resident that a lifeguard found the boy at the bottom of the pool at around 7pm.
The youngster wasn’t breathing and had to undergo reanimation efforts.
He was taken to Faro Hospital in a “stable condition” after emergency services arrived. He has since been discharged.
The cause of the near drowning remains unexplained, however.
The young man is apparently in Vila Real de Santo António for the town’s popular Copa do Guadiana, a youth football tournament which features over 200 teams and 4,000 young athletes.
Meantime, Portugal’s association for child safety (APSI) has revealed that 215 children have drowned in the last 13 years in the country, while 512 others nearly drowned.
Helena Botte, APSI’s general secretary, told Correio da Manhã that cases of drowning are more common in “built environments” such as pools and added that hotels should “have more lifeguards with training in basic life support.”
