Teen attempting backflip drowns at National Aquatic Center

A 14-year-old student of Dennis Street, Sophia Care Center, lost his life at about 15:05h on Tuesday at the National Aquatic Center at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
Dead is Joel Adams.
According to the Guyana Police Force, Adams left the Care Center with a group of children at about 13:30h and went to the Aquatic Center for a swim programme.
The caretaker, Khemwatti Dasrat, related to investigators that at about 14:55h, she heard the whistle blow at the Aquatic Center, and the children started to exit the pool.
One of the swim coaches related that she saw when Adams backflipped into the pool, and the life guard jumped in the pool to rescue him. He was taken out of the pool and attended to by a nurse there on stand-by.
An ambulance was summoned, and he was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The body is at the GPHC’s mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Adams is the third person who would have lost his life by drowning this month. Just three days ago, the bodies of two young people were found a few hours after they were reported missing at Unity Beach, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
Police said that the bodies of Navin Seenauth, 20, and Daniel Boodram, 17, were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Unity Beach, ECD.
It was reported that Seenauth, Boodram, and a 17-year-old, all from the Unity Village had gone swimming.
The lone survivor told investigators that the water was inshore with heavy waves upon their arrival. Despite the conditions, the youths proceeded to swim. The teen, who could not swim, exited the water but noticed that his two friends were no longer visible and raised an alarm.
The following day the body of Seenauth was discovered about 800 meters in the Atlantic Ocean with what appears to be fish bites. Boodram’s body was also sighted close by and was later fished out. (G9)