A MAN drowned in an open pool at a resort in Bahrain early yesterday.
According to sources, Sidharth Sajeev was attending a birthday party when, around 2.30am, he was spotted lying at the bottom of the pool.
He was rushed to a private hospital in Riffa, but could not be saved.
The 27-year-old Indian reportedly did not know how to swim.
“There was a large group of people which had gone to the resort to celebrate a birthday; it was also a holiday,” a source told the GDN yesterday.
“Most of party-goers decided to leave around 2am, while one group of friends, including Sidharth, stayed back and went for a swim in the pool.
“When they returned to the car at around 2.30am, Sidharth was missing. They went back to look for him but found him at the bottom of the pool.
“They called an ambulance, which did not arrive for nearly 30 minutes, and he was taken to the nearest private hospital in Riffa, where he was pronounced dead.
“Sidharth did not know how to swim,” added the source.
Mr Sajeev, who worked in a private company’s delivery section in Bahrain, had returned from Kerala on August 1.
He had travelled to Payyoli, Kozhikode, with his two-year-old daughter who underwent an ear surgery.
“The family is still in the hospital, and the child is recovering.”
Mr Sajeev’s body is at the Salmaniya Medical Complex morgue.
According to the source, there were no lifeguards at the pool at the popular beach resort in the Southern Governorate.
The GDN previously reported on Bahrain’s efforts to reduce drownings, with authorities promising a tougher crackdown on unlicensed pools as well as water safety awareness campaigns.
A 67-year-old Bahraini man drowned last month while swimming off the coast of Barbar, while a 42-year-old Indian expatriate died a few days earlier after his vehicle crashed into the sea in Sitra and he was unable to swim to safety.
The country witnessed seven fatal drowning tragedies in 2020 and five in 2021, alongside four non-fatal incidents in 2020 and one in 2021.
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