Girl's death after being left alone during swimming lesson deemed misadventure
The swimming coach turned his attention away from his young charge for only a few minutes but this was all the time needed for disaster to strike.
During the swimming lesson, six-year-old Sherlyn Ler likely “encountered difficulty when she was left to swim alone in the middle of the teaching pool”, said State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam on Tuesday (2 April).
“This went undetected by both the swimming coach and the lifeguards deployed and she was only subsequently discovered in an unresponsive state, by a group of children using the pool.”
Ler was administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and taken to hospital. Her condition subsequently deteriorated and she died 20 days later.
While SC Kamala deemed the case a tragic misadventure, she also found lapses in the manner swimming coach Matthew Yeo had conducted his class.
Deceased unable to swim
According the court’s findings, Ler was taking elementary swimming lessons along with five others at the Kallang Basin Swimming Complex on the night of 20 December 2017 when the incident took place. At the time, Ler was unable to swim without the use of aids or support.
In charge of the class was Yeo, a licensed swimming coach since 1996. The 7pm lesson began with some warm-up exercises in the complex’s teaching pool, which has a depth of 0.8m to 1m. Ler, who stood at 1.11m in height, had taken 20 private lessons and 28 group lessons with Yeo by that point.
After assisting Ler for two laps, Yeo left her in the middle of the pool at the third lap before turning away to guide another student.
Throughout the lesson, Ler’s mother had been seated at the platform near the pool and would occasionally check her phone or chat with other people.
Some 15 minutes after the class begin, a child spotted Ler floating face up in the training pool. Thinking Ler was just playing, the child did not check on her.
However, another child at the pool noticed that Ler’s eyes were closed and that bubbles were coming from her mouth. When Ler failed to respond to the child’s attempt to rouse her, the child alerted a lifeguard.
The lifeguard and Yeo then took Ler out of the water and began performing CPR on her.
Lifeguard was on toilet break
The court heard that lifeguard Firdaus Rajatmarican had been assigned to patrol the complex’s teaching pool and wading pool from 2.30pm to 9.30pm on the day of the incident. As there was a manpower shortage that day, Firdaus had been assigned to watch both pools.
Even though lifeguards were prohibited from using their phones while duty, Firdaus had brought his phone along to monitor his mother at home.
At around 7.05pm, Firdaus asked another lifeguard, Law Kum Wah, to take over his duty as he needed a toilet break. Law had been assigned to the competition pool at the time.
Law testified that, at about 7.15pm, he was patrolling the perimeters of the teaching pool when he found Ler floating in the water. He also witnessed Yeo teaching two other students with his back to the girl at the time.
Law claimed that he then jumped in to the pool as he felt something amiss.
‘Children need constant supervision’
During a hearing, a trainer of a nationwide swimming programme – which contains guidelines for certified instructors – said that the maximum permissible ratio of coach to student was 1:10.
However, this ratio is also subject to the students’ age and swimming ability. The trainer also stated that coaches should always be within 10 seconds’ reach of their students during lessons.
In her findings, SC Kamala found lapses in Yeo’s management of his class and that the “class formation was poor”.
“At several points in time, more than one student was out of his line of sight. Children in particular need constant supervision around water, which cannot be done if the coach is not able to see them,” she said.
Firdaus and Law are no longer lifeguards. Yeo’s coaching license was suspended on 17 January last year.
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