Father, two sons critical after St. James apartment pool incident

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This article was published 21/04/2019 (1978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A father and two sons taken to hospital Sunday remain in critical condition after an incident in an indoor swimming pool at a Winnipeg apartment complex.

Emergency crews were called to the Courts of St. James, which includes three high-rise apartment towers at 200 Ronald St., located just north of Portage Avenue, just before 5 p.m.

Paramedic crews treated all three people before rushing them to hospital. Several residents of the building said there was a large police presence and several ambulances Sunday evening.

Residents reported hearing a woman screaming in panic, just before ambulances arrived.

Constance Peterson saw a man and two boys being rushed out of the building on stretchers while paramedics performed CPR.

“It was pretty traumatic. I had nightmares last night because I have two young kids,” she said Monday.

Peterson doesn’t live in the complex but knows people who do, and said its indoor pool has an extremely deep end.

The incident is being treated as an accident. Names and ages of the victims have not been released.

“Police initially attended and obtained witness statements. There is no ongoing police investigation. No charges will be laid,” Winnipeg Police Service Const. Rob Carver said in an emailed statement.

Ron Penner, senior vice-president of operations and chief operating officer of Globe Property Management, which operates the Courts of St. James, said the company had no further information to provide.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family or families involved, we hope for a positive outcome,” Penner said in a statement which also requested privacy for “our residents at the Courts, as well as our staff, who are trying to come to terms with what’s happened.”

The swimming pool is housed inside a shared space between the three buildings, which are joined by underground passages.

The pool has depth markers indicating a one-metre shallow end, a 1.4-metre depth along a slope from the shallow to the deep end, and a 2.4-metre depth in the deep end. There were lifesaving devices visible around the pool. The water Monday was observed to be clear.

The Lifesaving Society Manitoba recommends children in any body of water are within arm’s reach of “a competent adult” in the water with them.

“If the children or adult involved are weak or poor swimmers or just hesitant, then they should be wearing a life jacket or PFD (personal flotation device) as another layer of protection,” said Chris Love, LSM water smart co-ordinator.

“All facilities that are open, beyond backyard swimming pools, apartment block pools hotel pools, anything like that, we actually advise that there should be lifeguards. It’s not required by regulation in this province, but we recommend there should be lifeguards because lifeguards are training to prevent accidents, to spot things before they happen, to avoid any tragedies that could occur.”

One Courts resident said there has never been a lifeguard at the pool, and signage warns patrons to swim at their own risk. There is a sign posted poolside that states no lifeguard is on duty.

Love said it is unusual but not unheard of to have water-safety emergencies in an indoor pool that is part of an apartment complex or a hotel.

“There have been other cases here in the province over the years. It’s not super common, because about 75 per cent of all of our drowning deaths occur in natural bodies of water in this province,” he said.

— with files from The Canadian Press

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca