A 12-year-old boy is fighting for his life at the hospital after he was rescued from the lazy river at the Avista resort in North Myrtle Beach on Monday evening. Witnesses told News13 he was held under water for nearly six minutes due to his leg being stuck in the pool’s suction line.
According to a police report, the incident happened at approximately 9:45 PM on Monday. City of North Myrtle Beach spokesperson, Pat Dowling says when responders arrived to the lazy river they noticed a grate cover for the suction line was missing.
“There’s supposed to be a three foot by three foot grate covering the suction hole, it was not there when we found the boy.” Dowling said. “They pulled him out of the water, did CPR felt a faint pulse, and then EMS took him to the hospital.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, representative for Florida’s 23rd congressional district helped pass the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, a U.S. law that requires every public pool in the nation to have a certain drain cover known as “VGB” covers.
“The force of the suction without a safety drain is so strong that the strength of several men couldn’t pull someone off when they had been suctioned to the drain,” Schultz said.
Vacationer Tiffany Perez told News13 she was in the pool when it happened.
“I have been deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve seen some terrible awful things but that was just horrifying on a different level. I just really want to know how he is doing but I’m not family so the hospital can’t tell me anything,” Perez said.