Two arrests: 8-year-old girl drowns in pool of holiday camp in Chalkidiki, Greece
Tragedy struck on Tuesday when an eight-year-old girl drowned in the swimming pool at a children’s summer camp in Halkidiki, northern Greece. One person has been arrested following the horrific incident.
According to local media, none of the camp staff realized that the little girl had drowned until they began counting the children after lunch before returning to the camp huts to rest in the cool of the afternoon.
According to state broadcaster ERT, a team leader noticed the girl was missing during the midday census and launched a search throughout the camp. She was found unconscious in the swimming pool, which was closed at the time of the incident so there were no lifeguards on duty.
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The organization that runs the camp in the town of Kriopigi released a statement on the August 13 incident, saying: “After lunch had ended and the campers were taking their lunch break in their rooms, it was discovered that a camper was missing. The camp management was immediately alerted and a team of officers began searching for her on the camp premises.”
The statement said the girl was found unconscious in the pool and “she was first helped with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a defibrillator. An ambulance took the camper to the Kassandra Health Center and then to the AHEPA Hospital in Thessaloniki, where she was pronounced dead.”
Speaking to news channel Star TV, the girl’s grandfather complained that camp management did not know exactly what had happened. “We asked them if there was a lifeguard in the camp and they said there was,” he said.
Local police immediately began investigating the circumstances of the girl’s death and spoke to camp staff, including the team leader, lifeguard and camp manager.
Among the two people arrested by the police was a 19-year-old group leader, and a 34-year-old camp director was taken into custody.
The team leader was arrested under Article 306 of the Criminal Code, which refers to the crime of exposure, that is, leaving a person under his or her protection without assistance.
