Sharjah: Residents have voiced their concerns over the lack of security guards in residential buildings after a neighbour saved a toddler from drowning in the swimming pool.
The incident occurred on Wednesday at a residential building in Al Khan, when three-year-old Yasir Hussain, from Afghanistan, played alongside the swimming pool at his residential building in the afternoon.
"Yasir was playing with other children near the pool and was accompanied by his mother. She turned her head away for only a second, and that's when she heard the awful splash of our son falling into the pool. She started screaming and even though she does not know how to swim, she jumped in the water to save him," Laila, the first wife of the boy's father, said.
Recollecting the events, she then explained that a neighbour, who also happened to be a doctor, fortunately saw the accident from his window and was then able to rush to the pool and save the toddler and his mother.
"We have been living here for five months and have complained many times to the manager about employing more security. The security guards are hardly ever there at the pool, and we have to be careful that this sort of accident does not happen again. If it were not for the neighbour, I dread to think what could have happened to Yasir," Laila said.
Lost consciousness
When the neighbour dragged the child out, Yasir had lost consciousness. He had been underwater for nearly four minutes. After performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), Dr Omar Abdul Wahid called the ambulance which then admitted the toddler to Al Qasimi Hospital.
After being put under surveillance for 24 hours and successfully passing several tests, Yasir was discharged.
An official at Sharjah Municipality, who declined to be named, explained that municipality inspectors conduct regular visits to swimming pools in hotels, clubs, villas, furnished apartments and residential buildings to ensure that safety regulations are being adhered to. Inspectors are supposed to check the cleanliness of pool water in addition to ensuring that pools are equipped with lifeguards.
However, tenants claimed that no such practice was carried out in the residential building.
To build a pool, building owners are required to obtain a licence from the Technical Affairs Department at the municipality. The department specifies that children's pools should be separate from adults, and should have full protection and rescue equipment.
Have you faced a similar problem? Have you requested for a lifeguard? What happened? Are there other issues that you are facing in your neighbourhood?
