Boy critical in another cruise ship pool incident – Surely it’s time for lifeguards on board?

Unfortunately more bad news relating to the cruise industry once again hits the headlines. I feel it worth a mention however as it raises questions relating to a much wider issue. Firstly the recent incident. A four-year-old boy is in a critical condition after nearly drowning when he was somehow ‘swept under’ while swimming in a wave pool on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas last Saturday, the little one is believed to have been submerged for between five and 10 minutes.

The vessel was only an hour into its journey when the incident took place. Witnesses said a passenger on deck alerted another swimmer when they noticed the child was under the water, they then grabbed the boy from underneath and dragged him out of the pool unconscious before medics began CPR, there was no lifeguard on duty.

Saturday’s near-drowning is one of several recent similar cases on cruises. A 6-year-old British boy previously suffered a brain injury after he was found at the bottom of a pool on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Sea. The cruise was on a seven-night western European voyage and had to return to port so the child could be met by a rescue helicopter.

In February 2014 tragedy struck on the Norwegian Breakaway when two small children were found in a swimming pool. A 4-year-old boy died, and his 6-year-old brother was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

This begs the obvious question, why don’t cruise ships have life guards on duty at pool areas? Oasis of the Seas has a capacity of 5,400 guests. The ship has four main pool areas, including a children’s water park that has a wading pool, an infant and toddler pool, and a wave pool, yet there is no legal requirement for any trained professional lifeguards to be ready on the scene should there be any ‘incidents’ – it beggars belief.

To be fair to Disney Cruise Lines following an incident in March 2013 where a 4-year-old nearly drowned in a pool aboard the Disney Fantasy ship, they have since employed the services of on board lifeguards, Disney however currently remain the only cruise line to do so.

This seems incredible to me, sentimentality aside, from a purely economic point of view surely a few lifeguards on board would cost substantially less than the compensation packages paid to families of children killed or injured?

The mind boggles….I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Bye for now.