A four-year-old boy is recovering in hospital after being found face down without vital signs in a wading pool in Ottawa’s west end Friday evening.
Lifeguards spotted the boy in the water at the Michele Heights Community Centre pool, near Bayshore Drive and Richmond Road, shortly before 5 p.m. They quickly pulled him from the pool and began CPR.
Paramedics say the lifeguards, who were working their first day on the job, resuscitated the boy within five minutes and credit their quick action with saving his life.
“We have to really recognize this lifeguard for being really hyper vigilant and seeing the child at the bottom of the pool and jumping in and doing the right thing immediately,” said Paramedics Supt. Darryl Wilton.
There was a large community barbeque going on at the time of the incident. Dozens of people watched the boy being rescued.
“Everybody, even the people who were inside their house, came out and they were right here and it was shocking,” said 12-year-old Souheib Ahmad.
The boy was identified by neighbours as Luol Pac who lives with his family just minutes away from the pool.
He was listed in serious but stable condition at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
