Dad, 36, in China breaks neck & dies while showing daughter, 7, how to dive in 1.1m pool

A man in Ningbo, China died after diving headfirst into a shallow swimming pool, breaking his neck.

He remained face down in the pool for 16 minutes while his daughter tried pulling him up, but lifeguards did not come to the rescue as they assumed he was playing with the girl.

He died in hospital five days later.

Incident

According to Taiwanese media ET Today, the 36-year-old father, surnamed Hu, had been demonstrating the dive to his seven-year-old daughter on Oct. 18 in an indoor pool.

Failing to realise that the pool was only 1.1m deep, he dived into the shallow end from the side of the pool and hit his head on the pool floor, fracturing his cervical vertebrae.

A CCTV footage of the incident showed Hu's body floating to the surface following the impact.

He was visibly unable to turn himself around to keep his head above the water.

His daughter, who had witnessed the incident from inside the pool, quickly realised something was wrong and attempted to pull her father up but to no avail.

Lifeguards failed to act quickly

Internal investigations found that there were three lifeguards on duty at the pool at the time of the incident.

One had reportedly walked over to check on Hu after seeing his body floating on the water, but assumed that he was playing with his daughter after he did not respond.

It was only until about 16 minutes after the incident had occurred that the man was rescued and sent to the hospital.

He was treated in the intensive care unit for five days, but eventually succumbed to his injuries and died.

China's swimming pool management laws state that lifeguards are required to patrol the pool every 15 minutes and respond immediately to unusual situations.

For the delayed response by the pool staff, Hu's family stated that they would sue the gymnasium where the pool was located.

The gymnasium's management in turn defended itself by saying that safety warnings were clearly posted around the pool, highlighting the dangers of diving in the shallow pool.

Top images via Weibo