THE father of a schoolboy who nearly drowned on a school trip has relived the “terrifying” moment he was told the news.
The 11-year-old was on an end-of-term trip with his class from Ferryhill Primary School in Aberdeen when the incident happened at Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool two years ago.
Yesterday, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils were fined a total of £13,000 for the health and safety failings that lead to the incident – which a sheriff said could have had tragic consequences.
Last night the boy’s father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was pleased the councils had been punished – but said if his son had died, “no amount of money in the world” could have made up for it.
The security guard, who stays in the city, said: “I’m glad this has happened and I hope it can stop anything like this happening to any other children.
“It’s good they have been fined, but if he had died then no amount of money in the world could have made up for it.
“I’m happy this is the end of it now.”
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday that 23 youngsters from Ferryhill Primary had gone to swimming pool on June 28, 2013.
But the youngster – who could not swim – got into difficulties, and unnoticed by teachers and lifeguards, fell unconscious and sank 7ft below the surface.
He was only rescued after a quick-thinking member of the public noticed the shadow of his lifeless body at the bottom of the pool, and sprang into action, pulling the boy from the water.
Once he was on the side of the pool, lifeguards attempted to resuscitate him and after around a minute he started to show signs of life.
The child was taken by ambulance to Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital where he was intubated and ventilated by surgeons.
But his breathing remained distressed and erratic, and he was transferred to the intensive care unit of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children later that night.
He was released from hospital four days later after making a “remarkable” recovery.
Yesterday, Aberdeen City Council – the authority for the school – was fined £9,000 after it admitted failing to provide its employees with adequate training to deal with school excursions.
They also admitted failing to adequately assess the risks associated with taking children to an outdoor pool.
Aberdeenshire Council – which runs the swimming pool – was fined £4,000 after it admitted failing to ensure there were enough lifeguards on duty so the whole pool was visible at all times.
The court heard the risk assessment carried out by the teacher had been “not suitable or sufficient” and that its “poor quality” could be attributed to the fact that she had not received any training.
Fiscal depute Shona Nicholson said it would have been “reasonable” to expect the teacher to consider a child’s swimming ability in her risk assessment, but this was not checked.
And while a letter was sent home to parents, it did not question if any of the children could swim.
The child’s dad later told the Health and Safety Executive that his son had only joined the school the previous October and could not swim.
He said he would have provided that information on the form had it been requested.
Last night he thanked the anonymous hero who pulled his son to safety, but said when his family had first heard about the incident they had no idea if he would survive.
He said: “Somebody tried to phone my wife but she couldn’t answer so I didn’t find out until the police came to the door.
“It was really terrifying to hear, I didn’t know if he would be OK.
“Luckily everything was fine and we are getting on with our lives.
“I sometimes wonder what would have happened if that person didn’t save him from the swimming pool.
“I’m really grateful.”
Sheriff Alison Stirling said it was fortunate the boy made a full recovery and that she was treating the breach by the city council as being “more serious.”
She said: “This was a very worrying incident concerning a primary school trip. Because of the failures to which both councils have pled guilty an 11-year-old boy, who is a non-swimmer, became submerged underwater where he could not be seen and was recovered unconscious by a member of the public. Fortunately he made a full recovery but the consequences could have been otherwise.”