The accident raises questions about safety, believes Mikael Olausson, who is the Secretary-General of the Swedish Lifesaving Society.
It was on Saturday that the boy was found lifeless in a pool at Skara Summerland. A lifeguard started CPR until the ambulance arrived and took the boy to the hospital, but his life could not be saved.
Reports of congestion
After the accident, several visitors testified in various media that it was crowded in the park and pools.
Mikael Olausson refers to the Product Safety Act, which states that a service should be safe and secure. From a lifesaving perspective, there are also factors that affect the mission.
You must be able to see the bottom, you must be able to keep track of whether someone is lying and floating. You must have free paths so that you can act and help, and you need to be able to do it in a reasonable time.
There is no requirement today for a certain number of lifeguards per number of visitors. But it is something that the Swedish Lifesaving Society wishes for.
It would be a pretty simple way to organize your business. It would become clear how many you can let in and how many you need to hire, he says.
The Lifesaving Society wants to see a legal review of the level of protection in relation to the number of visitors.
We would think it would be good to try this legally, so that you get a precedent, says Mikael Olausson.
Investigated as manslaughter
In an email, Parks and Resorts, which owns Skara Summerland, writes that around 6,500 people visited the park on Saturday. There is no information on how many were in the bathing area, as guests can move freely around the park.
According to Parks and Resorts, there is no maximum limit for the number of visitors, but daily assessments are made based on, for example, capacity and weather.
"Safety is the absolute most important thing for us and something we never compromise on. We would never open the park if we were not confident that we could do it safely", writes Christoffer Östling, acting CEO of Skara Summerland, in an email to TT.
On Saturday, 19 lifeguards were on duty, according to Östling, who answers questions via email.
Did these lifeguards see the bottom of the pool during their work shift?
"Yes, you can see the bottom of the pools when you're on position."
The drowning accident is classified as manslaughter and the police announced on Tuesday that the investigation is now led by a prosecutor.
