A British schoolboy has died while on holiday in Thailand, the Foreign Office has confirmed. Nathan Clark Griffiths, 14, from the Isle of Man, was sucked into a swimming pool pumping system when he dived down looking for his goggles. He was last seen lifting an underwater grille at the bottom of the Pattaya Water Park, which is around 60 miles east of Bangkok. His father, Jim Clark, dived into the outdoor whirlpool to try to save him after Nathan's 15-year-old brother Rhys raised the alarm. After failing to find him, they had to plead with lifeguards to check the pipe running from the grille. Mr Clark told reporters: "The guards did nothing, not for 30 minutes. "They would not believe what had happened. When I finally forced them to do something they went to the pump room, opened a hatch and my son's body came out." Mr Clark, his sons and his Thai wife were visiting the water park on Friday when the tragedy happened, according to the Pattaya Daily News. A camera team was at the park and pictures of the search and the grim discovery have been posted on local news websites. Rhys, who recently left school with his brother in Douglas on the Isle of Man, reportedly put the events surrounding Nathan's death on a blog. He wrote: "I went to the ticket booth to make an announcement as to whether anyone had seen him. "I was coming down the stairs to the main pool when I heard my father shout 'No!' very loudly then my stepmother screaming." A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "Our consular people in Thailand are giving assistance at this tragic time for the family."
So boy REMOVED the protective grill and went down... for some goggles.... hmmmm..... shame he is dead but that is totally his fault.
lol i can actually remember when i was 14, at 14 your in year 9 in school, unless he was just slow your heavily underestimating the common sense of a 14 year old, they may not be super clever but they got common sense.
No. The owner of the pool failed to properly secure a grill that leads to a deadly danger, in a venue known to be used by minor children. So I would say that this is about 10% his fault, and about 90% the fault of the pool. As for the pool's employees not acting swiftly, where there might have been still a chance of rescue resuscitation, they are 100% at fault. Since they work for the owner of the pool, the owner has to accept responsibility for his employees actions (legally aka respondeat superior) Given the two compounding factors, the owner of the pool is at risk for about 99% fault.
^ wow, nowadays lemmings *cough*, i mean people are hardly responsible for their actions. what they should do is drain the pool of water and put a bouncy castle in there.
Unless the owner has placed a vivid sign stating the removal of grill is hazardous and can cause death then it would be the kids fault for deliberately ignoring the sign...
hey Lets go Israel, find the mattress, get the money, open a pool, drain the water, put a giant game of twister in there and make lots of moneyz!!!
I read somewhere on the BBC that the grill is normally supposed to be locked; they have no idea how the thing became unlocked.
For a 14 years old boy, this stuff should be common sense regardless of whether the grille was locked or unlocked at the time. Whilst I think it's the kid's own fault for doing what he did; however, it's the owner's responsibility to ensure the safety of his guests. The fact that the life guards failed to act and the grille unlocked; the owner has to assume full liability for the death. That's in the US, I don't know about Thailand though.
I doubt that the teen understood implicitly that opening the grill would have meant his demise. Most teens go through life behaving stupidly, as if there is always going to be a tomorrow. I don't think the victim had any thought before he swam into that open vent that the suction would suddenly be so powerful as to impel him into the pipe and certain death. In a macabre similarity, I remember with my fish tanks, small fishes sometimes swim close to an intake tube for the pump (after a larger fish knocked off the grill cap). Of course, the small fishes would sometimes be sucked in and mangled.
My condolences to the family. However, that was incredibly stupid of the kid to remove the grill. Are education standards falling or something...
poor family. Ralph is correct though, the fact the grate was unlocked puts the pool at fault. They should be able to sue for millions.
A 14 year old boy doesn't have the common sense that the grill is not to be entered? Also i would personally think that it wouldn't have gone in there anyways, i bet he just made the excuse to go inside... Shame the Thai people didn't attach some sort of bolts to keep it secure or soemthing so no one could enter
