A young girl almost drowned at Marina Bay Sands‘
infinity pool last Sunday afternoon but her rescuer turned out
to be a quick-thinking hotel guest, instead of
the MBS lifeguard on duty.
According to an eyewitness called Eric,
the lifeguard on duty was checking the girl’s pulse
when a hotel guest, who identified himself as a doctor,
stepped forward to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
on the victim.
The drowning girl who was clad in a pink swimsuit looked no
older than a 10-year-old.
Eric, who first reported the incident on citizen
journalism portal STOMP, was at the SkyPark when he
saw the near-drowning.
He wrote: “She was successfully pulled out from the pool, but
the lifeguard on duty didn’t seem to know CPR.”
However, an MBS spokesperson refuted his claims and said
all MBS lifeguards have Lifeguarding Certificates and CPR
Certificates.
The spokesperson said that “in a near-drowning incident,
the first step is to ascertain if the airway is clear and in
this case, the child was placed in a position to minimise any
possible airway blockage. The lifeguard will determine if there is
a pulse as CPR is only performed if there’s no breathing or
pulse.”
“At the time, one of our hotel guests identified himself as a
doctor immediately and came forward to administer CPR. We thank him
for his proactive assistance,” he was quoted as saying
on The Straits Times.
The spokesperson added that MBS has between 3 – 5
lifeguards on duty during pool operating hours.
-- Yahoo! News
