 Girl's drowning at Sentosa swimming pool ruled misadventure
SINGAPORE : Cries of grief broke out at a coroner's inquiry on Tuesday as the mother of five-year-old Anna Lim Pei Er broke down when she watched CCTV footage showing her daughter in the last moments of her life.
Earlier, the court watched in silence as a bubbly Anna ran across a footpath and entered the adult swimming pool at Rasa Sentosa Resort and began to swim. About a minute later, she appeared to be in difficulties but no one had apparently seen her struggle. No one came to her rescue.
Four minutes after she had entered the pool, Anna's lifeless body was pulled out of the water. She was rushed to the Singapore General Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
Even though the footage was silent, the images were unnerving. Anna's mother, Mrs Lona Lim, 27, had to be escorted out of the courtroom when images of June 2 unfolded. Anna's father, Mr Andrew Lim, 40, was seen wiping away his tears.
Anna's drowning was ruled a misadventure.
State Coroner Ronald Gwee, in delivering his finding, advised parents not to let their children out of their sight when they are in the water. Any unexpected and irreversible events could happen in less than a minute, he said.
Her father said, after the hearing, that Anna had previously swum in deeper waters. Six months before the tragedy, Anna was even able to keep herself afloat in seawater and at a waterfall on a family holiday. She kicked the ground whenever she sank to the bottom.
"I don't understand why she couldn't jump and ask for help at Sentosa. Maybe she panicked."
Her mother told reporters she had repeatedly told Anna not to go into the adult pool.
The footage showed Anna, who was 1.2 metres tall, entering the 1.3 metre-deep shallow end of the adult pool at 5.07pm on that fateful day.
At 5.11pm, two young men sitting by the side of the pool started to wave their hands frantically. A swimmer saw Anna's body lying motionless at the bottom of a pool. Anna - clad in a bright blue swimsuit - was pulled out of the water.
Investigating officer Syed Kassim told the court that Anna, who did not know how to swim, probably did not have the strength to shout for help. There were also not many people at the part of the pool where she drowned.
The Lim family had gone to the resort that day for an outing with a relative's family, who had rented a room there.
Before the tragedy, her parents had taken Anna and her three-year-old brother Anthony for a swim at the beach. But when it looked like it was going to rain, the family headed back to the resort to swim.
In her excitement, Anna ran ahead of her parents, not heeding their cries for her to slow down.
Soon, they lost sight of her in the crowd.
Both parents circled the two hotel pools to search for her, and checked the hotel lobby and the room.
A month earlier, in May, the National Water Safety Council had unveiled a series of measures aimed at addressing water safety, especially for children and youth as they are seen as facing the highest risk of water accidents. - TODAY | 
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