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Six-year-old girl almost drowns when hair in caught in Lanzarote swimming pool filter

Darcey Morgan lucky to be alive after being pulled underwater for two minutes in freak accident on holiday at Playa Blanca resort

Thursday 01 June 2017 09:03 BST
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Playa Blanca, Lanzarote
Playa Blanca, Lanzarote (Luis Miguel Bugallo Sanchez)

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A mother has said her six-year-old daughter is lucky to be alive after getting her hair sucked into a hotel swimming pool filter.

Darcey Morgan was at the H10 Rubicon Palace in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, when her hair became caught and she was stuck under the water for two minutes, her mother said.

Writing on Facebook, Alex Morgan described the incident as “the worst day of our lives” and said the family was grateful to the “incredibly brave people” who saved Darcey's life.

She said: “Darcey was unconscious and had to be given CPR at the poolside.

“Her oxygen levels were low and she has lots of fluid on her right lung.

“Her hair was stuck and she was unable to get up to the surface. She was kept under the water for over two minutes.

“Luckily we got to bring Darcey out of hospital the following morning. However, it could have been a completely different ending to our holiday.

“This was the worst day of our lives. We are still suffering to come to terms with it all now but also feel incredibly lucky to still have our beautiful, brave little girl.”

She added: “Darcey lost four large clumps of her hair in total, but she luckily never saw it and it all grows back.”

The mother claimed the way the resort dealt with the incident was “poorly” and said it did not investigate the incident, which took place over the Easter holiday.

A spokesman for tour operator FirstChoice told the Daily Mail: “We were extremely concerned to hear of this incident - which is the only one of its kind which was reported directly to us in the resort - and as soon as we were made aware we started a full and thorough investigation together with relevant external pool experts and our hotel partner.”

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