A 4-year-old boy died after accidentally falling into a private swimming pool in Nerja – the 4th drowning in the Province of Málaga this month.

The Nordic family had arrived to spend a week’s holiday on the Costa del Sol and had visited Nerja to celebrate the birthday of the boy’s grandfather.

The accident occurred in the chalet’s swimming pool; one of the adults in the house realised too late what had happened and had found the child already motionless and submerged.

The distraught mother began shouting for help from the neighbours even though she doesn’t speak Spanish – it was obvious from her gestures what had happened – and one of them phoned 112. A UVI mobile unit was dispatched to the home.

The paramedics carried out CPR to revive the child and managed to stabilize his condition, although in a critical state. They rushed the boy to the Hospital Materno Infantil to the ICU. However, the boy died a few days later.

Further down the Málaga coast in Funegirola, a 53-year-old British man drowned off Playa de Carvajal, which is on the municipal boundary with Benalmádena.

A fellow bather had contacted the Policía Local to say that the man was floating unconscious in the water. Again, a UVI mobile unit was sent out. Despite frantic CPR attempts, the man was already beyond being revived and was declared dead.

The third death in the province occurred at the beginning of the month in a hotel swimming pool in Torremolinos, involving a 75-year-old Englishman. The man was on holiday with his wife, who had raised the alarm.

The last of the four deaths involved a 60-year-old Spaniard off Playa de los Álamos, again in Torremolinos. A beach user phoned 112 to say that there was a a man floating motionless some 25 metres off the beach.

Although he was pulled out of the water alive, he died within a few minutes.

All round, a bad month for the Costa del Sol.

(News: Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)