FREAK POOL SCARE
Mum thanks little ‘angels’ in rescue of drowning daughter
A YOUNG girl rescued from a “freak” near-drowning at a Cairns resort had swimming lessons and was being supervised.
Dalby woman Lynda Somerfield and her family were on holiday in Cairns when tragedy struck on Monday night.
Lynda Somerfield’s daughter Isobel, 7, was pulled from the pool at BIG4 Ingenia Holidays Cairns Coconut Resort at Woree about 6pm before being rushed to Cairns Hospital.
Ms Somerfield told the Cairns Post via a post on social media last night she was grateful for everyone’s help.
“We would like to thank a little girl Tia who alerted others, her big sister Misty-Ann, who got her out of the water, and the stranger and manager who performed CPR,” the mother of four wrote.
“We are very blessed and thank the angels among us who (were) present and involved.
“She is recovering well and should be back to enjoying our holiday adventure in no time.
“Yes, she has had swimming lessons and yes, she was with other people. It was a freak accident that ended with a good outcome.”
Father-of-two Kristopher Ray, who was also staying at the Anderson Rd resort on Monday night, has been credited with saving Isobel’s life by performing CPR on her.
He was taking his own son and daughter for a swim when he heard a man yelling.
“I looked over and I could see a dark spot on the bottom of the pool,” the mine worker said. “I swam from one side of the pool to the other.
“I‘m very happy she’s all well and 100 per cent.”
Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Manjeet Singh said the girl was “extremely lucky”.
He said the incident should serve as a warning coming into summer.
“There’s a lot of deaths related to drowning around the state, around the world and the smallest amount of water can lead to a drowning incident … so (she’s) very lucky,” he said.
“The most important thing from our perspective is prevention and that’s to make sure you supervise children around the pool, especially young children, and if there’s anyone not confident in the water, make sure there’s someone nearby to supervise or get into the water with them.”
The Somerfield children — Misty-Ann, Isobel, Harriet and Asher – have made headlines before, most recently when the siblings were nominated for a Children of Courage award in May. The children help take care of Isobel’s twin sister Harriet, who has cerebral palsy.