A six-year-old boy drowned in a crowded public swimming pool unnoticed while four lifeguards were on duty, an inquest heard yesterday.
Tam Sek-lun's body was only found after it floated to the surface of the medium-sized pool in Fanling about 15 to 20 minutes after his stepmother reported him missing, the Coroner's Court was told.
Pathologist Dr Lam Wai-man told the five-member jury that ruptured blood vessels around his eyes and small bleeding spots on his eyeballs suggested the boy had struggled underwater for at least 30 seconds.
But he was uncertain how long the boy had been dead before his body surfaced.
Sek-Lun's stepmother, Leung Kam-chee, said she took him and his two elder sisters to the pool at 1pm last August 9.
There were 50 to 70 people in the pool. She said that when she got in she could only see the girls. She sought help from lifeguards but they asked if the boy was only hiding.
