Missing 8-year-old girl found dead after being sucked into Houston hotel pool pipe: Police
A missing 8-year-old girl was found dead in a swimming pool pipe at a DoubleTree by Hilton in Houston, according to police.
After the family reported her missing over the weekend, the girl was found in the narrow pipe that was part of the hotel's lazy river-like pool.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science identified the girl as Aliyah Jaico.
According to the institution, Aliyah's preliminary cause of death was "drowning and mechanical asphyxia," and her death appears to have been the result of an accident.
Her mother, Jose Daniela Jaico Ahumada, is now suing the Houston DoubleTree hotel, seeking $1 million in damages.
What happened at the hotel?
According to the plaintiff’s petition, on March 23, the family rented a room at the Doubletree by Hilton on U.S. 290. At approximately 4:50 p.m., the daughter was swimming with her family in the pool when she suddenly disappeared in it.
Jaico was "violently sucked into a 12-to-16-inch unsecured open gap in the swimming pool flow system of the hotel’s lazy river," the petition stated. The petition said that at 5:20 p.m., Ahumada requested hotel management look at the video surveillance footage where they discovered that Aliyah went underwater but never emerged.
Read the full petition here:
How was the pipe searched?
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Fire Department used long poles with cameras to look into the lazy river's pool flow system. They spotted the child on one of the cameras. Other agencies, such as the Houston Police Department, Texas EquuSearch, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, were also part of the investigation.
How can a person get sucked into a pool pipe?
Pool drains are often covered by grates, but sometimes the grates are missing, broken or too large to prevent people from getting stuck.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drain accidents can happen by:
Mechanical entrapment: A piece of jewelry or clothing such as a bathing suit strap gets stuck in the drain.
Limb entrapment: A finger, toe, arm or leg becomes lodged in the drain, and the person cannot move.
Body entrapment: A body part covers up the drain, and the suction prevents the person from moving.
Hair entrapment: A person’s hair gets dragged into the drain.
Evisceration: A person sits on the drain. Because they are unable to move, their intestines are pulled out of their body.
How to stay safe at a swimming pool
Poolsafely.gov provides tips on how adults and children can stay safe when swimming in a pool:
Always watch children when they’re in or near water; never leave them unattended.
Teach your children how to swim. Learn to swim yourself.
Do not play or swim near drains or suction outlets, especially in spas and shallow pools, and never enter a pool or spa that has a loose, broken or missing drain cover.
Ensure all pools and spas have compliant drain covers.
Install proper safety devices.
Know how to perform CPR on children and adults.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Missing 8-year-old girl found dead in Houston hotel pool pipe: Police
