Search for girl, 11, who drowned at water park was ‘like a nightmare’

The search for an 11-year-old girl who drowned during a birthday party at a water park was “like a nightmare”, an inquest has heard.

Kyra Hill got into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor, Berkshire, in August 2022.

A 17-year-old lifeguard spotted her going under and searched that part of the water before leaving to alert staff, Berkshire Coroner’s Court heard.

A manager attended rapidly but 37 minutes passed between Kyra struggling and 999 being called, senior coroner Heidi Connor said.

The 15 metre by 19 metre beach area was not cleared of people until emergency crews arrived, the inquest heard.

Conflicting and incorrect information started to circulate, including that Kyra left the water or swam to various locations.

Watersport manager David Novell ordered searches on land and in other parts of the lake, but not in the designated swimming zone where she disappeared, the hearing was told.

A mother looking for Kyra said loud music was playing and that she shouted at a senior member of staff to turn it off.

Kelly Edwards, who was attending the birthday party, said she also called on staff to ask members of the public to leave the water.

The administration services manager recalled “shouting, screaming Kyra’s name” as she walked around the park.

She became emotional as she said: “It just seemed that nothing was taken seriously, nothing was deemed as an emergency, and I feel so angry with myself every day that I came out (of the water) and no-one went to the children and asked them where Kyra was.”

Mr Novell told the inquest that the first-responding lifeguard, named Abbi, appeared “confused” and was “unsure as to what exactly had occurred”, given the contradicting reports that Kyra had exited the water.

However, Abbi, then a schoolgirl, dived three times in the area where Kyra disappeared and CCTV showed her pointing there during a conversation with Mr Novell and Liquid Leisure owner and director Stuart Marston.

Ms Edwards said the lifeguard, who appeared a “little girl”, also told her daughter to keep searching for Kyra in the water.

The mother said: “She (Kyra) was seen in the water, and for myself and for us we were told she was missing, so we were looking on the land, and to know someone had seen her and said ‘I’ve seen someone gone down in the water’, and for her not to be listened to. I couldn’t, can’t get my head around it.”

She added: “It just felt like I was in this nightmare, the sort of thing you watch on the TV and you, you think, well, that would never happen.”

Members of the public got out after the mother started screaming “can everyone just stop and start calling Kyra’s name, because she must be somewhere”, she said.

People gathered in a line to swim the width of the lake, she said, adding that she believed this was ordered by a lifeguard.

They swam past the designated swimming area and into the main lake, the inquest heard.

One person suggested diving down with goggles, but a staff member said “no, no, no, you can’t dive down because it’s almost like being in the ocean, your breathing and everything has got to be taken into account – it’s really, really deep”, Ms Edwards said.

She told the inquest: “There was another guest there and I was saying ‘I can’t see in the water, once you’ve put your head down it’s so murky you couldn’t see anything’.

“It was so deep, it was so deep in that area, I said ‘I can’t get to the bottom’ and he said ‘no, nor can I’.”

The only depth-warning signs around the beach area said “danger shallow water” and Ms Edwards said she thought it would therefore be “knee height”.

Ms Edwards added: “When I went into the water to look for Kyra you only had to step a few feet and it just dropped, massively.”

There were “various sharp drops” of up to 4.5m (14.7ft) within the swimming zone, the inquest heard on Tuesday.

The lake was 2.68m (8.8ft) deep where Kyra was seen going under, a report carried out after the incident found.

Mr Novell told Ms Edwards that the missing girl could be in a toilet, the carpark, could have left the gates, or be under the water, during a conversation that she recorded.

He accepted that they carried out a search suitable for a missing or lost child rather than one for someone who did not emerge from the water.

The manager told the inquest that it was a “horrible situation” but given the information he had at the time he would not have acted differently.

“We did the best we could”, he said.

Owner Mr Marston said no one on site was trained to rescue someone submerged in the water and that remains the case at the park.

“It’s common practice around the country,” he said.

Kyra was seen going under water at 3.20pm and emergency services were called to the scene at 3.57pm.

She was found just after 5.10pm and taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, where she was pronounced dead.