An 11-year-old girl who drowned at a waterpark was unlawfully killed, a coroner has found. Kyra Hill passed away after encountering difficulties in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor in Berkshire while attending a birthday party on 6 August 2022. Senior coroner Heidi Connor concluded that there were significant breaches of health and safety measures at the park that contributed to her tragic death.
The breaches primarily centered around the depth and visibility of the water, as well as the lack of an emergency plan and risk assessment. An inquest at Berkshire Coroner’s Court revealed that the schoolgirl was discovered over an hour after emergency services were notified and was subsequently taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Furthermore, the inquest disclosed that there were no warning signs indicating deep water at the leisure park. Despite various sharp drops of up to 4.5m within the swimming zone, the only signs related to depth stated “danger shallow water.” An examination conducted after the incident revealed that the lake where Kyra was last seen was 2.68m deep.
According to Liquid Leisure’s statement following the inquest, the incident occurred in the “designated swimming area of our lake, which always had a fully trained Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) lifeguard on duty.” However, a 17-year-old lifeguard who attempted to reach the area where Kyra disappeared was only qualified to perform surface-water rescues, not underwater ones. The inquest highlighted a 10-minute gap between the initial and subsequent searches for the young girl in that part of the lake, with 37 minutes passing from the moment Kyra struggled to when emergency services were contacted.
The frantic search for Kyra was described as a “nightmare” by a mother present at the birthday party, while a police officer characterized the scene as “chaotic” due to conflicting information relayed to emergency responders. The diver who eventually located Kyra mentioned during the inquest that the lake had “almost zero visibility.” The coroner emphasized that parents and caregivers were not advised to maintain a one-to-four ratio with children, and young children were allowed to swim without buoyancy aids. Additionally, there was a lack of an emergency plan or risk assessment that considered these factors and no control measures were implemented to address these evident risks.
In a heart-wrenching interview with Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee post-inquest, Kyra’s father Leonard Hill recounted the harrowing moment he received the call informing him that his daughter was missing. He expressed disbelief at the news, highlighting that Kyra would never wander off on her own. Mr. Hill firmly believed that Kyra could have been saved if emergency plans were in place at Liquid Leisure. He urged for stricter regulations at waterparks to prevent future tragedies and ensure the safety of all visitors.
Kyra’s father also emphasized that no parent should have to endure the pain of losing a child in a place where they should have been safe. He described Kyra as a resilient and strong individual with aspirations of playing for Manchester United women’s football team or pursuing a career in law. Mr. Hill’s plea for safer standards and urgent reform in leisure parks echoed the sentiment of many families who have faced similar tragedies. The time for action is now to prevent further losses and ensure the well-being of all individuals visiting such establishments.
