6 year old boy drowns on Carnival ship.,

[Velvet Teddy Bear]

HELLO ALL... anyone on AOL would have seen this (Monday 10/14) . A 6 year old boy drowned in a pool onboard the Carnival Victory this weekend..he was in the pool with his 10 old brother.....very sorry this happend BUT... what I want to know is....why was he in this pool, and where were his parents....they should have been watching him....I know you can't watch a child every second....but if they both were there, then one of them should have kept an eye on them....I know this sounds bad, but, I have seen too many good folks not watching their kids while on board...they figure there are enough people around, that nothing will happen.....well, it is not the other peoples job to watch your kids,,,,,I do feel sorry for the family, and I hope other people will heed this warning about their own children...

 

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel....

 

jus' me....jim.....

[WaldosPepper]

No flaming here. I agree that it is a horribly tragic event, but that blame falls squarely on the parents or guardians who brought the child with them.

 

I'm heartsick for the family, and for all those onboard who witnessed this awful end to a beautiful child's life.

[thistimeplease]

"HELLO ALL... anyone on AOL would have seen this (Monday 10/14) . A 6 year old boy drowned in a pool onboard the Carnival Victory this weekend..he was in the pool with his 10 old brother.....very sorry this happend BUT... what I want to know is....why was he in this pool, and where were his parents....they should have been watching him....I know you can't watch a child every second....but if they both were there, then one of them should have kept an eye on them....I know this sounds bad, but, I have seen too many good folks not watching their kids while on board...they figure there are enough people around, that nothing will happen.....well, it is not the other peoples job to watch your kids,,,,,I do feel sorry for the family, and I hope other people will heed this warning about their own children...

 

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel...."

 

Unbelievable, a family is mourning their child and this is what you post. You have no idea what happened. You don't know any of the details. Unless you were witness to this event please keep your judgements to yourself. What kind of person does this. My prayers are with the family.

[Winston Wolf]

"HELLO ALL... anyone on AOL would have seen this (Monday 10/14) . A 6 year old boy drowned in a pool onboard the Carnival Victory this weekend..he was in the pool with his 10 old brother.....very sorry this happend BUT... what I want to know is....why was he in this pool, and where were his parents....they should have been watching him....I know you can't watch a child every second....but if they both were there, then one of them should have kept an eye on them....I know this sounds bad, but, I have seen too many good folks not watching their kids while on board...they figure there are enough people around, that nothing will happen.....well, it is not the other peoples job to watch your kids,,,,,I do feel sorry for the family, and I hope other people will heed this warning about their own children...

 

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel...."

 

Unbelievable, a family is mourning their child and this is what you post. You have no idea what happened. You don't know any of the details. Unless you were witness to this event please keep your judgements to yourself. What kind of person does this. My prayers are with the family.

 

+1

 

Raising awareness of the story is one thing, badmouthing parents in a situation you have no knowledge of is another. And even if they were negligent...don't you think these parents are devastated and will live the rest of their lives with the guilt?

[dlynn0366]

Unbelievable, a family is mourning their child and this is what you post. You have no idea what happened. You don't know any of the details. Unless you were witness to this event please keep your judgements to yourself. What kind of person does this. My prayers are with the family.

 

I agree with you totally! Part of my work is with a physician Coroner and have seen drowning's happen where this parent thought the other parent was watching, a simple miscommunication and a tragedy happens but this doesn't make them bad people. My prayers are also with this family.

[Sheils65]

"HELLO ALL... anyone on AOL would have seen this (Monday 10/14) . A 6 year old boy drowned in a pool onboard the Carnival Victory this weekend..he was in the pool with his 10 old brother.....very sorry this happend BUT... what I want to know is....why was he in this pool, and where were his parents....they should have been watching him....I know you can't watch a child every second....but if they both were there, then one of them should have kept an eye on them....I know this sounds bad, but, I have seen too many good folks not watching their kids while on board...they figure there are enough people around, that nothing will happen.....well, it is not the other peoples job to watch your kids,,,,,I do feel sorry for the family, and I hope other people will heed this warning about their own children...

 

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel...."

 

Unbelievable, a family is mourning their child and this is what you post. You have no idea what happened. You don't know any of the details. Unless you were witness to this event please keep your judgements to yourself. What kind of person does this. My prayers are with the family.

 

I agree, I am sure the parents are carrying enough guilt/pain without adding to it. My thoughts and prayers are with the Family and all that witnessed this tragedy. May they find some peace soon.

[mizLORInj]

. . . anyway. . . .

 

I saw this on the Carnival board. Very sad news to read.

[Squidward Q Tentacles]

Very sad, my thoughts are with the parents. With my past I can say that it takes only a second to drown, and a person can even drown in their own bed hours after an event in the water.

[sdmike]

What a horrible tragedy. I hope this family has the support they need to get through this.

[jack300s]

Agree...this type of thing is always so sad to hear. I think about the family and also all the people that witnessed it.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/qwentyn-hunter-boy-drowns-carnival-cruise-swimming-pool_n_4097096.html

[kcwingwalker]

Very sad, my thoughts are with the parents. With my past I can say that it takes only a second to drown, and a person can even drown in their own bed hours after an event in the water.

 

This is a sad wakeup to anyone who swims in a busy pool be it adult or child. It's busy, noisy and vision and hearing can be limited. It take very little time for an accident to occur.

 

I'll leave the blame if there is any to those who have the sad task of investigating this tragedy.

 

And, I'll say a prayer for this child and his family.

[HokiePoq]

HELLO ALL... anyone on AOL would have seen this (Monday 10/14) . A 6 year old boy drowned in a pool onboard the Carnival Victory this weekend..he was in the pool with his 10 old brother.....very sorry this happend BUT... what I want to know is....why was he in this pool, and where were his parents....they should have been watching him....I know you can't watch a child every second....but if they both were there, then one of them should have kept an eye on them....I know this sounds bad, but, I have seen too many good folks not watching their kids while on board...they figure there are enough people around, that nothing will happen.....well, it is not the other peoples job to watch your kids,,,,,I do feel sorry for the family, and I hope other people will heed this warning about their own children...

 

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel....

 

jus' me....jim.....

 

No flaming from me. I think we can be very sorry for the family who has lost a child and still see that they should not have turned a six year old loose with his ten year old brother as stated in the news report. I have been on ships where children are totally unsupervised in the pool/hot tub area. Thankfully no tragedies like this one.

[Ilovesailing]

While not knowing the circumstances on this situation we have seen on numerous occasions where the parents treat the cruise is a babysitting service and just let the kids roam wild, even seen them climbing onto the railings.

[Barb Nahoumi]

My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

[triptolemus]

...they should not have turned a six year old loose with his ten year old brother as stated in the news report.

 

The Associated Press article doesn't say that at all. The article states that he was in the pool with his 10 year old brother and was "at the pool area with other family members."

 

While the ultimate responsibility is with the parents, it's not fair to jump to conclusions or misrepresent what the article says, purposefully or otherwise.

[cruisecritiquer]

I wish I had found this thread earlier. It's a lot more tame than that other thread. :rolleyes:

 

At any rate, I'm going to repost here what I posted there because I think it's important.

 

This is a horrific thing to happen. Oh my word....I don't even know what I would do. My heart goes out to those families.

 

I wanted to just interject something into this thread. I think people need to keep in mind that drowning is not always this wild carnal fight for air that we see in movies. A lot of times drowning is very subtle. Growing up right next to the Pacific Ocean, I've seen lifeguards dive into the water in the ocean after children who did not appear to be drowning and people who were close to the child (including the parents) were completely shocked.

 

So that I do not have to write a long explanation of why drowning doesn't always look like drowning, allow me to just share an article with you.

 

This details a very good example of what I'm talking about. You may have seen this article before in some shape or form but it doesn't hurt to review it again!

 

Rather than passing judgment on these parents since we don't know the exact circumstances, we need to educate ourselves because just watching kids swim is apparently not enough...you need to know what drowning looks like so you can detect it and help your child or someone else's when necessary.

 

http://www.wivb.com/news/buffalo/drowning-signs-arent-like-the-movies

 

By MARIO VITTONE

Slate

 

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water.

 

A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach.

 

“I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife.

 

They had been splashing each other and she had screamed — but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar.

 

“We’re fine; what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed.

 

“We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard.

 

“Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned boat owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their 9-year-old daughter was drowning.

 

Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, crying, “Daddy!”

 

Until that tearful “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. How did this captain know — from 50 feet away — what the father couldn’t recognize from just 10?

 

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television.

 

If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew know what to look for whenever people enter the water.

 

DROWNING RESPONSE

 

As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

 

The Instinctive Drowning Response — so named by Francesco A. Pia, a water safety specialist, is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.

 

» See a video of the Instinctive Drowning Response «

 

To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children 15 and under, just behind vehicle accidents. Of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.

 

Drowning does not look like drowning — Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:

• Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

• Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

• Drowning people cannot wave for help. Natural instinct forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. This permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

• Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

• From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response, the person’s body remains upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

 

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble. They are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long — but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

 

Look for these other signs of drowning when people are in the water:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level

• Head tilted back with mouth open

• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

• Eyes closed

• Hair over forehead or eyes

• Not using legs; body vertical

• Hyperventilating or gasping

• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

• Trying to roll over on the back

• Appearing to be climbing an invisible ladder

 

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK — don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and staring up at the boat deck.

 

One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?”

 

If they can answer at all — they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.

 

And parents: Children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

[daffodiliaz]

I can't believe it took the DJ to notice this child. Surely there were hundreds of other people around and other people in that pool. And I assume the child was in a swimsuit and if he couldn't swim he shouldn't have been near the pool, let alone in it. I know, blame won't bring it back, but hopefully this scared the other passengers enough to watch their kids like a hawk.

[B6ConMe]

now you can flame me.....I really don't care.....this is how I feel....

 

jus' me....jim.....

 

No flaming here....

 

OMG, I feel so badly for the family but also for those around that pool. Can you just imagine how people would feel knowing they were sitting there relaxing while a young child drowns right in front of them, more or less?

 

Prayers for the family and anyone on that ship... they'll all be suffering..

 

PS Thank you for posting the article cruisecritiquer it needed to be said no matter how unfortunate the circumstance.

[kerrytens]

My heart breaks for this family. How tragic:(

 

What I don't get is this blame game that is happening here to an extent and definitely over on another board. Unless any of us were actually there and saw the entire tragedy, none of us can say a thing about it. We know nothing more than a 6 year old lost his life onboard a ship and that is what we should all remember here. It is so very, very sad.

 

Cruisecritiquer, thank you for the article too. It is one of the best things posted on the other thread (and here now too)

[triptolemus]

My heart breaks for this family. How tragic:(

 

What I don't get is this blame game that is happening here...

 

What don't you get? Don't you know every poster on any forum is a better parent than any person onboard a ship with a child?

 

I'm still waiting for the blame to be assigned to Carnival - kind of like it did in the HuffPo comments...

[sdmike]

critiquecruiser - thank you for sharing that. It sent chills down my spine when I read the first part. I feel better informed about what to look for.

[SuiteCruiser]

My heart breaks for this family. How tragic:(

 

What I don't get is this blame game that is happening here to an extent and definitely over on another board. Unless any of us were actually there and saw the entire tragedy, none of us can say a thing about it. We know nothing more than a 6 year old lost his life onboard a ship and that is what we should all remember here. It is so very, very sad.

 

Cruisecritiquer, thank you for the article too. It is one of the best things posted on the other thread (and here now too)

 

Agreed.

 

Every spring I post on FB a very similar article as we gear up for swimming season. I've seen a child almost drown in a swimming lesson, thankfully her Mom and I were watching from a bench along the wall as even the instructor hadn't noticed. It is very subtle and it looks like they are messing around bobbing up and down. So very sad.

[mizLORInj]

I wish I had found this thread earlier. It's a lot more tame than that other thread. :rolleyes:

 

 

I see one of your photos was taken at Mystic Mountain in Ocho Rios!!!!

[karoo]

Thanks to the OP. The more people who are aware the better. Unfortunately it only takes 2 to 3 minutes for a child to drown. Children in or near water need constant adult supervision. Such a sad time for the parents.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[momoftwinteens]

For those of you blaming the parents, I have a different perspective. When I was 9 years old, I almost drowned and it would have not been my mother's fault if I had. I was on vacation with my family and we stopped at a hotel for the night. I jumped into the pool, not realizing that the water was deeper than I thought it was and,therefore was over my head! When I came to the surface, I couldn't stand and started to drown. My mother was right there but, couldn't swim and so, was helpless. If my older brother hadn't been right there, I would've drowned. Suffice it to say, when we finally returned home, both my mother and I were enrolled in swimming lessons. My point in all of this is, it only takes a second. Kids don't think like adults. I remember that day like it was yesterday and I am now 50. An adult would have read the markings on the side of the pool and known how deep the water was. My mother maybe could've warned me if I hadn't jumped in before she got the chance. Those parents will live with "what ifs" for the rest of their lives. I think some sympathy is more than necessary here.