Children should not be attending pool parties, says father of boy who died in swimming pool last year

Dubai: Less than eight months ago, Ahmad Ali was as happy and content as any man with a loving family could be. Little had the family imagined the turn their life was to take as they lost their eight-year-old son Ali Mazahir died of accidental drowning in a building swimming pool.

And while the couple and their little daughter are still unable to come to terms with their life after the tragedy, every such incident brings old memories alive. The latest incident of the death of nine-year-old Bonnie Joseph Junior in a building swimming pool, said Ali, makes him feel helpless.

Bonnie had gone to attend a friend’s birthday party in a building in Bur Dubai where he died in the swimming pool last week.

“I feel as if I lost my son again, everything is similar, young boy, pool party and negligence,” his voice choked. Ahmad Ali’s son had died in a swimming pool in a Dubai Marina building during a classmate’s birthday party last year.

“It has been more than seven months.. the whole world continues to function normally.. but I still don’t want to believe my Ali is not around. Me and my wife, we try to appear as normal as possible….but it is like killing yourself everyday, we have to live to give a normal life to our daughter. I do not have an option but to live and as long as I do, this grief would not end.”

Ali faces the trauma not only of his son’s death but also that he still is not sure about the sequence of events that led to the child’s death. “I was not there... it was a pool party, I still wonder what would have happened, did he slip or did he hurt his head or what really would have gone wrong? There are so many unanswered questions.”

Facing the tragedy has also made him highly sensitive about issues concerning safety, particularly that of children. “A small negligence can cause an irreparable loss… why should you even allow small children to have a pool party. Supervising children is already not an easy job, we should avoid situations that expose them to risks,” he feels.

“We should not take life for granted. In todays fast-paced world, it seems we are forgetting our responsibilities behind the glitter of life. Our life and that of our loved ones is our responsbility.