Witnesses said staff at the waterpark where an 11-year-old girl died during a birthday celebration asked customers for goggles to look for her underwater.
40 individuals, including members of the public, jumped into the water at Liquid Leisure near Datchet, Berkshire, on Saturday.
Kyra was meant to do the Total Wipeout-style challenge with 10 buddies at 3pm.
Fun changed to panic as a mother screamed her child’s name at 3.40pm.
Kyra’s parents and staff began checking changing rooms when she didn’t return from the inflatable session, which provides lifejackets.
Some youngsters said Krya couldn’t swim and was last seen ‘diving underneath’ and ‘not coming to the surface,’ causing alarm at the water park.
30 to 40 individuals joined the 90-minute search for Kyra, according to witnesses. Witnesses said emergency personnel came 40 minutes later.
Later, two search helicopters joined. Kyra was located at 5:10pm and transported to Wexham Park Hospital, but she died.
Unsolved, police are probing her death.
Witnesses said lifeguards began tearing up inflatable equipment, including elements of a Ninja Warrior obstacle course, after 20 minutes.
Last year, a mother whose kid visited the same water park expressed safety concerns.
A woman whose 11-year-old daughter visited the water park last year expressed safety concerns over a year ago.
Melissa Henson claimed her daughter slipped between two inflatables and became jammed by her life jacket ‘nearly a year to the day’
‘I’m confident she would have drowned if we weren’t watching,’ she told MailOnline.
Management apologized and offered us a coupon to return.
They apologized and wished you a better next time.
I didn’t want to return and gave it to a friend, but I subsequently told them not to use it since the area wasn’t secure.
“This might have been my kid,” she said of Saturday’s tragedy.
I wondered whether someone else might experience anything similar.
‘It shook me. She wasn’t, thankfully. She feared for me.
“Young lifeguards were nowhere to be seen”
Others said personnel requested for goggles to seek for Kyra underwater.
Witnesses criticized the water park for a lack of an emergency plan and stated adolescent lifeguards were ‘unprepared’ for the catastrophe.
Others stated there were ‘crazy amounts of people on the inflatables’ before the catastrophe.
James Bull, 25, searched for Kyra. He told the Mail, ‘It was a catastrophe.’
I noticed a woman yelling for Kyra and then ran towards her pals.
‘A image showed her in a black bikini and grey shoes. They reported she couldn’t swim and struggled before going under.
He said, ‘The pool area should have a capacity restriction.’ How did they miss her drowning?
Why no goggles or diving gear? More people and parents were in the water searching for her than lifeguards.’
A 32-year-old mother-of-two stated there was no adult in control. Terrible.
‘One lifeguard stated he didn’t want to get his shoes wet.
Some demanded goggles. It was so horribly handled, I can’t even. The mother was waiting with her guests for the main inflatable course when a lady stated she’d lost a kid.
Surreal. It grew tenser and quieter.
As a mother, I can’t understand what she was going through.
‘It was awful. I’m livid. No emergency plan appeared.
Lifeguards were dashing over and under obstructions, stated another witness. They dismantled the Ninja Warrior along the seashore seeking for her. Staff asked customers for goggles to find her underwater.
One told Sky News, ‘Everything’s a lively place, but after 15 minutes it fell silence. The stress was unbearable.
When they cleared the inflatables and put all the workers on them, something went awry.
She argued the park lacked an emergency plan. No tannoy or alarm. Others said dozens of people joined the search and rescue.
A 34-year-old mother from outside Reading who was in the park with her boys on Saturday told ITV: ‘They (friends and relatives of the girl) asked us to scream her name, describing her as shoulder-height with shoulder-length brown hair.
‘Either her mother or a close relative was in swimsuit and screaming and yelling for her.
With each passing minute, bystanders’ terror grew.
She applauded lifeguards’ rescue action. “The lifeguards were great,” she remarked.
I estimate there were 30-40 workers and public in the water.
30 to 50 youngsters were on the assault course when Kyra disappeared, witnesses claimed.
Birthday party packages include a 50-minute aqua park session, wetsuit hiring, plus food and drink for £27 per person.
The park provides stag and hen parties with drinks at the licensed bar.
Parts of the lake are six meters deep, making it unsafe for non-swimmers. Gavin Springett, a park trainer last summer, said safety was never compromised.
Lifeguards are on every portion of the inflatable course, and employees are educated regularly in water rescue. Buoyancy jackets are required on all inflatables, even for adults.
Customers or their parents must sign a release stating they are ‘capable swimmers’ who are ‘confident in deep open water’ and have a’reasonable level of fitness’
It also requires participants to accept “an element of danger and risk of bodily or mental harm”
There is a ‘junior’ aqua park for children ages 4-9 in addition to the normal aqua park, which is suitable to youngsters as young as 6 but suggested for those 10 and older.
Ninja Warrior Aqua Park, based on the ITV program, launched in May.
Last night, Thames Valley Police thanked parents who leaped into the water.
He remarked, ‘This was a stressful and unpleasant situation for everyone.’
‘I know numerous others entered the water when the girl got into trouble but couldn’t find her. I applaud their boldness.’ Liquid Leisure stated they will help authorities and added, ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and all those touched by this awful occurrence.’
As Thames Valley police are in the early stages of an investigation, we won’t say more, but we’ll continue to help them.
Due to a development dispute with the municipality, aqua park executives were ‘very frightened’ that 300 jobs might be lost.
Liquid Leisure was handed an enforcement notice in December 2020 requiring the park to dismantle most of its structures due to alleged planning violations.
The council says the water park and party venue violated its planning licence for water-skiing and windsurfing.
The planning inspectorate planned a four-day probe in March.
The investigation was postponed because the inspector who was supposed to visit the water park got Covid.
Stuart Marston, managing director of Liquid Leisure Windsor, claimed the park might shut before the hearing.
Losing children’s activities that promote water confidence with friends and eliminating safe summer water access terrifies him.
With the council’s move, we can’t train open water lifeguards in Datchet.
Mr. Marston is a repeated national and world champion in towed water sports, according to the company’s website.
After his firm took over the Datchet water sports facility in 2002, Mr. Marston’started his endeavor to make more people active via his love for water sports’