The 5-year-old was found unresponsive at the bottom of a swimming pool in Minot on Thursday
A 5-year-old girl remained in critical condition Friday at a Portland hospital after she was found unresponsive at the bottom of a swimming pool in Minot.
Police said the girl was one of eight or nine children playing in the in-ground pool at a home at 145 Fortin Drive when she apparently sank to the bottom and did not resurface at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The children ranged in age from 5 to 11 or 12 years old, said Capt. Raymond LaFrance of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office.
Most of the adults, including the child’s mother, were inside the house attending a Pampered Chef party. Pampered Chef sells multipurpose kitchen tools and provides cooking tips at in-home cooking shows, according to its website.
Two adults were outside in the pool area, with one cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, and the other keeping an eye on the slide into the pool’s deep end, LaFrance said.
The girl apparently was playing in the shallow end of the pool but somehow ended up in the deep end. She could not swim, LaFrance said.
“By the time someone noticed, she was underwater,” he said. “It’s just a tragic accident.”
The sheriff’s office said some of the other children started screaming, alerting adults inside.
One of the older children pulled her out.
Adults gave the child CPR while others called 911. The girl was unresponsive when emergency crews arrived.
She was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston at first but was later transferred to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident, but LaFrance said it appears to be an accident and charges are not expected to be filed.
Authorities on Friday did not release the names of the injured girl or of others present at the time of the accident.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
Twitter: @Mainehenchman
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