Inquest into death of five-year-old boy in Newquay continues

Some health and safety measures in place at a holiday park, where a five year old boy died, were borderline, an inquest has heard.

Robin Caliskan from Plymouth died on July 31 2023 after going for a swim on a family holiday at Atlantic Reach near Newquay.

The inquest has been hearing how the parents of the five-year-old boy thought there would be lifeguards on duty, but there were no lifeguards.

Robin was found face down at the bottom of the main swimming pool by members of the public after he had become separated from his parents.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr and Mrs Caliskan told the court they believed the holiday park would have lifeguards after seeing images on social media.

The inquest was shown photos of signs put up at the pool including sets of rules posted in the men's and women's changing rooms which stated: "No lifeguard on duty", with a further sign stating the rule at the poolside.

Mr Caliskan said he had not seen the signs and added that he had seen photos on Facebook which showed lifeguards at the pool, and he had seen someone in a "red and yellow outfit" at the pool.

He added: "I didn't see signs about lifeguards, if I did see that I would definitely go back to reception and say: 'I thought you had lifeguards?' and ask them questions.'"

John Henry Vernon, managing director of Atlantic Reach, said: "Following the risk assessment we concluded under normal circumstances the pool would not be lifeguarded. If there’s less than 54 people in the pool, child to adult ratios are in place and no large inflatables, then lifeguards are not required."

Capacity rules mean adults can bring no more than two children under the age of eight into the pool area and no more than four over the age of 16.

The maximum number of people into the pool area at any one time is 54.

When asked about if the holiday park has advertised photos of lifeguards on duty on their website, he said: "There were no photographs of lifeguards on our website at the time of the incident."

Mr Vernon added there were photos of lifeguards on their social media, but they were specifically around their large inflatable sessions.

He said they've implemented signage including "No Diving" and "No Lifeguards on Duty signs". There's also a range of safety equipment including an: "emergency alarm, rescue equipment and first aid training for a number of members of the team".

After becoming separated from his parents, Robin Caliskan was found face down in the pool and he died despite efforts by members of the public and paramedics to resuscitate him, the inquest heard.

Robin's father said: "I looked at the big pool at first, it was very crowded, there were adults and lots of children, when I saw the children swimming I thought: 'Fine,' so me and Robin headed to the big pool."

He said after about 10 minutes, he and Robin went to the baby pool where they joined his wife and other son and they took a family photo together.

Mr Caliskan continued: "I took our little boy from my wife, I decided to look after him for a bit and I said to my wife: 'If you want to go to the big pool, you can' and she decided to go in the big pool.

"Robin was just playing there, my wife was heading to the big pool and Robin said: 'Can I go please?' He wanted to go with my wife, his mum, and I said: 'OK, but you need to stay with your mum, go with your mum.'

"Then he followed my wife. It was so crowded in the big pool I can't be 100% sure if Robin was following my wife or beside her.

"I could just see my wife and there was a child next to my wife and I thought that was Robin."

He added: "I was sure he was with her."

Mr Caliskan said that after a while, his wife came back and they then realised that Robin wasn't there.

He added: "We noticed that people had taken someone out of the pool and they all gathered at one location and we decided to go there as well. When I arrived there I saw two people trying to give treatment to Robin."

In a statement, paediatric consultant Samantha Holden said that a post-mortem examination gave a cause of death of drowning.

The hearing continues.

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