The company's swimming pool in Paros, where a 4-year-old boy lost his life a few days ago, has been sealed off.
According to ERT, the decision to seal the pool was made by the Municipal Committee following new evidence indicating that the pool had allegedly been operating without the required permit since 2023.
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Following the decision, the deputy mayor in charge proceeded to seal the business’s swimming pool.
This development comes as Greek authorities continue to investigate the circumstances under which the young child lost his life.
Timeline
It is recalled that the incident occurred shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday (August 8) at the pool of a seaside business in the Pounta area. Two women who were at the scene reportedly were the first to notice the child in the water. A swift response followed, and the bartender from the beach bar dove into the pool and pulled the four-year-old out.
Resuscitation efforts began immediately at the scene, and according to the latest reports, a doctor was also present and assisted until the paramedics arrived. The child was transported by ambulance to the Health Center, with resuscitation efforts continuing both during transport and after his arrival. Despite the efforts of the emergency responders and doctors, it was not possible to revive him, and he was pronounced dead.
What the boy’s father says
The father maintains that there were insufficient safety measures in place at the site and states that he will take legal action, while expressing his belief that the presence of someone constantly supervising the pool could have prevented the tragedy.
In fact, he states that “the man who claims to be the owner and says he’s also a lifeguard is 68 years old. He was wearing a little hat and a T-shirt. He also had an earpiece so he could say, ‘Guys, whoever’s coming, put him on that table over there.’”
Speaking to STAR, he described the dramatic moments at the beach bar when the bartender dove in to rescue the child: “He fell in and pulled the baby out; my daughter called out to me, ‘Dad, Dad, the little one’s in the pool.’ I ran over quickly and performed CPR on him, giving him the kiss of life. We were shouting, crying, and screaming. The bartender told me, ‘Man, I couldn’t do anything—I saw it at the last second.’”
“The little boy went into the pool because it was right next to him. I was chatting; he wandered out of my sight for a second, slipped, and fell. The bartender was the first to get there, and we ran over,” he said.
The father notes that “there are cameras at the scene that show we weren’t in the ocean and the child was in the pool. We were about 10 meters away from there, and there was a dining area as well,” and that “we ran quickly.”
“We were rushed in the ambulance, and as soon as we arrived at the Health Center—within 40 minutes—there was a doctor and a man who kept massaging him and giving him oxygen,” he says, emphasizing that “if someone had been by the pool, I wouldn’t have lost my child…”
What the owner claims
The business owner gave his own account of what happened to the 4-year-old child, claiming, among other things, that the child’s father had visited the bar a month earlier, left him there alone, and they had asked him to leave at that time.
“He’d been here before a month ago, and we tried to ask him to leave in our own way. He was gone for about half an hour, three-quarters of an hour; he’d left the child there and was in the restroom. So I took charge and went over to him and said, ‘You have two little kids downstairs—you’ve left them there. What are you doing?’ And we had someone watching the children,” he said a few days ago while speaking to ANT1.
The businessman also maintains that the child’s father was not nearby when the tragedy occurred, answering “no” to a related question and saying “He was at a table where they were sitting at another snack bar; I didn’t see them.”
The beach bar owner further claimed that “we argue with people every day—with the mothers and fathers who leave their children alone. I kick them out and end up being the bad guy, and then they post negative comments on social media.”
Source: Proto Thema
