Death of boy in Cornwall holiday park swimming pool was an accident, inquest concludes

A five-year-old boy who drowned in a holiday park swimming pool after becoming separated from his parents died as a result of an accident, an inquest jury has found.

Robin Caliskan was found at the bottom of the indoor pool at the Atlantic Reach Holiday Park, near Newquay, Cornwall, by members of the public, after going for a swim with his family.

A corner will now issue a preventing future deaths report after a health and safety expert said she would expect the holiday park to do "much more" following one fatality and one near-fatality.

An inquest in Truro heard Robin died on the first day of a three-day camping stay at the resort in July last year.

Shortly after arriving and setting up their tent, the family went for a swim at the park’s indoor pool.

After becoming separated from his parents, the boy was found face down in the pool, and he died despite efforts by members of the public and paramedics to resuscitate him.

The inquest heard Atlantic Reach did not employ lifeguards at the swimming pool and there was no legal requirement to do so.

A post-mortem examination found Robin, from Plymouth, Devon, died from drowning, and an inquest jury returned a conclusion of accidental death.

“A miscommunication between the parents led to a brief and unintentional period of tim

e where the deceased was unsupervised,” the jury said.

“The frosted glass separating the baby pool from the main pool misled each parent to believe the deceased was safe with the other parent.

“The deceased was found unresponsive in the busy pool environment by another pool user and was then removed from the pool by members of the public who initiated basic life support and also alerted reception staff.”

During the inquest, Robin’s father, Cemal Caliskan, said he thought his son was with his mother in the larger pool, while he was in the baby pool with his other child.

“Robin was just playing there, my wife was heading to the big pool and Robin said ‘Can I go please?’,” Mr Caliskan, who is originally from Turkey, said.

“He wanted to go with my wife, his mum, and I said ‘OK, but you need to stay with your mum, go with your mum’.

“Then he followed my wife. It was so crowded in the big pool I can’t be 100% sure if Robin was following my wife or beside her.

“I could just see my wife and there was a child next to my wife and I thought that was Robin.”

He added: “I was sure he was with her.”

The inquest was shown photos of signs put up at the pool, including sets of rules posted in the men’s and women’s changing rooms, which said: “No lifeguard on duty”, with another sign stating the rule at the poolside.

The hearing heard there had been a near miss previously, when an elderly man suffered a medical episode while using the swimming pool.

Anne Marie Jameson, a health and safety enforcement officer at Cornwall Council, said there was no legal obligation to have lifeguards, and the holiday park was not prosecuted after Robin’s death.

“They meet the minimum standards currently. It is minimum standards, however, given they have had one fatality and one near fatality I would expect the company to do much more than they are,” she said.

“In my opinion there is the risk of future deaths.

“The park has the duty of care to risk assess the premises, but I cannot and do not have the enforcement powers to request to put lifeguards on.

“There is no legal requirement to have lifeguards. However, a business that is so busy, not to have pool attendants within their risk assessment processes is a little bit strange, it is unusual, but that doesn’t mean it is illegal.”

Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall, said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to Atlantic Reach because of his “ongoing concerns”.

“Drowning in general is something I see. It is more unusual to see it in a pool setting, which is a more controlled environment than the sea or the coast,” he said.

“I am going to find there are ongoing concerns here that I need to address. I will write a report to Atlantic Reach, but it will not be saying they must employ lifeguards.

“I will be saying they need to review their risk assessment in light of the evidence at the inquest and they need to assess whether there is a need for a lifeguard service to be introduced at particular times in the future.”

A statement from the parents of Robin Caliskan at the conclusion of the inquest said:

"The loss of Robin has been devastating for our family. No parent should ever have to experience the heartbreak of losing a child, especially under such circumstances.

"Our child, Robin Van Caliskan, was full of life, with dreams and a future ahead of him. Now, that future has been taken from him because of the conscious and deliberate decision not to provide even the most basic level of safety and supervision.

"There was no lifeguard, and when a frosted screen misled us to believing he was safe there was no one there to protect our child when he needed it most.

"The organisation had ignored a previous recommendation for pool supervision from the Council following the incident in 2020, and even after this tragedy there is still no provision for a lifeguard. Our child’s life mattered, and his death must be the catalyst for changes.

"We welcome the Coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths report. We hope no more Robin’s will be lost."