A four-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool at a beach bar on the Greek island of Paros, prompting the arrest of his parents and the venue’s owner and renewing warnings about the risk of children drowning during family holidays.
Police said two young women noticed the boy lying motionless in the pool and raised the alarm. A bar employee pulled him from the water before emergency medical workers arrived and attempted to resuscitate him.
The child could not be saved.
His parents were reportedly swimming in the sea when the incident occurred. Police detained them and the owner of the beach bar, who was officially registered as the pool’s lifeguard, as part of a preliminary investigation.
Authorities have not yet announced any formal charges. The circumstances surrounding the child’s death remain under investigation.
The beach bar expressed its “deepest and most sincere condolences” to the family and said it would remain closed for the day in memory of the boy.
The death shocked Paros at the height of the tourist season, as tens of thousands of travellers were expected to leave Athens by ferry for Greece’s islands.
Series of deaths raises concern
The Paros incident follows several fatal child drownings reported at European holiday destinations this summer.
Six children died in water-related incidents in Spain over a 72-hour period in June, prompting water-safety specialists to issue urgent warnings to families.
Sebastián Quintana, a drowning-prevention specialist, said inadequate adult supervision was a central factor in many such deaths.
“A child will not shout or call for help. Drowning is an extremely fast and silent event,” Quintana said.
Experts advise parents and guardians to remain within arm’s reach of young children around pools and beaches and not to rely solely on lifeguards, flotation devices or other swimmers.
Family holiday turns into tragedy
Among the children who died in Spain was three-year-old Ellery Ellesmere, who drowned during a family holiday in Mallorca.
Relatives attempted to save her at a villa before she was taken to hospital in Palma. She was pronounced dead the following day.
Her mother, Cerys, described how an idyllic family holiday had turned into “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
Less than a month later, a six-year-old Belgian boy drowned while holidaying with his family in Barcelona. Witnesses said no lifeguard was present at the pool, which was reportedly as deep as five metres in some sections.
Drowning-prevention specialists say such incidents can happen within seconds and often occur without splashing, shouting or other obvious signs of distress.