Young Drowning Victim 'Liked Trampolines But Hated Water'

Nearly every weekend during pool season, there is news of accidental drownings. Most involve children under age 5. Despite the statistics and an awareness that these mostly preventable tragedies continue to occur, it's still difficult to learn of another drowning.

This particular incident  has a distressing twist. Lucie Marke, 2, of Elgin, Moray, Scotland, and her parents were attending a barbecue at the RAF Akrotiri in southwest Cyprus, where her father, Corporal Stephen Marke, was stationed at the time. Lucie played with the other children, and her mother, Stacey, says she checked on the toddler every 5-10 minutes. When Stacey couldn't find her daughter, the party hostess suggested looking near the pool, which was covered. Noticing a 12-inch-diameter tear in the pool cover, they ripped it off and found Lucie's lifeless body floating in two feet of water.

At an inquest this week in Scotland -- more than a year after the tragedy -- coroners ruled that the death was accidental.

According to an article in The Daily Mail, Lucie "liked trampolines but she hated the water," explained Stacey Marke.

She continued: "We had a swimming pool at home but our cover was never on it. Lucie could see the water so she didn't go near it. My thought was that she may have mistaken the surface (pool cover) for a trampoline. We didn't have a trampoline at home but friends had them."

At the September 16, 2009, inquest, forensic scientist Darrell Manners of LGC Forensics in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, presented evidence that the PVC swimming pool cover was "weathered.

"PVC loses its plasticity in the sun," Manners said in The Daily Mail.  A PVC cover can break down, lose its flexibility, harden and become brittle.

"The cover was weathered and worn," concluded Manners. "If Lucie had jumped on that cover at any point, she would have gone through it."

What can we be reminded of from this devastating incident?

• A young child can drown in 1-2 feet of water.
• A pool cover does not ensure safety. It's not advisable to walk on a pool cover.
• Extra layers of safety must be in place, like a pool fence and a latched or locked gate.
• Most importantly: If there's a pool and children are present, an adult must be watching the children in the pool and out of the pool. Even more so if there is not a latched safety fence installed.
  
  More about the Lucie Marke drowning.
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  Drowning Prevention Tips & Facts.