Pool Tragedy Response Criticised

The family of a five-year-old British girl who drowned in a hotel pool in Egypt said today they are angry and hurt that more was not done to save her.

The father of a five-year-old girl who drowned in a hotel pool in Egypt says he was left  to make the first attempts to resuscitate his daughter.

Sarah Thompson and Tony Johnson, parents of Chloe Johnson, said there were no lifeguards at the pool where their daughter drowned in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and no help on hand to save her life.

The couple have told how they had walked around the pool looking for Chloe after returning from buying drinks and snacks. Mr Johnson said he had been the first to start resuscitation efforts after his daughter was discovered at the Coral Sea Waterworld Hotel.

"It was just me at the beginning.. I had done it all and then other people said there was a nurse," he said.

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.

Ms 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.

 "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 aged 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".

Travel company First Choice has said it is working with the hotel to find out what happened to Chloe.

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.