4-Year-Old Girl Drowns During Swimming Lesson at Private Nursery Without Lifeguard
A four-year-old girl tragically drowned in a pool deemed too deep for children at a private nursery in Turkey.
The incident occurred on August 12 at a nursery in the Suleymaniye neighbourhood of Inegol, Bursa Province.
CCTV footage showed staff frantically trying to revive little Berra Dizi after she was found floating motionless in the water and pulled out by a swimming instructor.
A nurse on site administered first aid before paramedics rushed her to a state hospital. She was later transferred to Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, where she passed away in intensive care seven days later.
Investigations revealed that the pool used for the nursery’s summer programme was 74 centimetres (29 inches) deep, exceeding the 50-centimetre (19-inch) safety limit for children’s pools.
Authorities also found that there was no certified lifeguard on duty at the time and that the swimming instructor was not in the pool with the children when the incident occurred
A 12-page report commissioned by prosecutors showed that Berra’s mother had declared her daughter had twice suffered febrile seizures as a baby, but that she had been seizure-free for two years and had been taken off medication on her doctor’s advice.
The school claimed that Berra had suffered an epileptic fit in the pool, suggesting the drowning was caused by her condition rather than negligence.
However her parents rejected the claim, stating that Berra had grown out of the childhood seizures and had no ongoing illness.
Hospital records proved she drowned, the parents insisted, adding that the seizure claim was invented to deflect responsibility. The report found the nursery operator E.B.O. “primarily at fault” and the swimming teacher N.T. “secondarily at fault”.
Berra’s parents were also listed as “primarily at fault” for not providing full medical history, a claim they described as deeply unfair. Berra’s father Ismail Dizi criticised the expert panel, saying two of its members were mechanical engineers who had wrongly issued medical opinions instead of assessing safety failings.
He said the nursery lacked proper permits and safety equipment, and should never have been allowed to run a pool.
Moum Beyza Turan said parents were told not to send their children with arm floats that day and believes her daughter would still be alive if safety rules had been followed.
She said the nursery remains open despite the ongoing investigation and vowed to keep fighting for justice for her daughter.