A seven-year-old girl drowned during a fun session at a busy swimming pool, despite the efforts of lifeguards. An attendant leapt into the pool to haul out the unconscious girl in front of swimmers after she was seen under the water at Blackwater Leisure Centre in Maldon, Essex.

She was airlifted to Colchester General Hospital on Saturday afternoon, but pronounced dead at the hospital within an hour.

The girl’s family, from the Isle of Dogs in London, had gone to the “Fun for all” session at the leisure centre, where the pool opens its flume and there is a “jungle river ride”. Leaflets at the centre say that only competent swimmers over 4ft 9in should use the ride, which has whirlpools and a waterfall. It also advises that children under the age of 8 should not go on the ride unless accompanied by an adult.

Last night it was unclear where in the swimming pool the girl’s body was found. A spokeswoman for Leisure Connections, which runs Blackwater Leisure Centre, said that an adequate number of lifeguards had been on duty.

Two St John Ambulance officers, who had been in the centre for a judo competition, were called to the poolside to attempt resuscitation, while junior cadets tried to comfort the girl’s family. The St John Ambulance Association said: “One of our ambulances was covering another event at the leisure centre when we were called to the swimming pool by staff who asked us for help.

“We rushed to the scene and tried to help. The lifeguard had already started resuscitating the young girl.”

Essex Police said last night that they were handing over investigation of the girl’s death to Maldon council’s environmental health department.

Graham Farrant, chief executive of Leisure Connection, said: “All our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and we will do anything we can to help investigate this tragic incident.”

On average, 15 people a year drown in swimming pools, most of them children. Peter Cornell, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: “People don’t wave their arms or thrash about when they drown in pools or in fresh water. They just slip under and if it hasn’t been spotted by the lifeguard, it can be dangerous.”

The girl was one of two young children to drown over the weekend. A three-year-old boy died in a garden pond in Birmingham after going missing from a home he was visiting.

He is thought to have strayed from the house, where he was playing with his cousins, into an adjoining garden in the Moseley area of the city.

A 67-year-old neighbour of the boy’s relatives, said: “The children were playing when he apparently got lost.

“He does not live on this street — he was visiting the house with his parents. He must have got through the gardens.”

A police helicopter was scrambled and up to a dozen police cars were used in the search.

The neighbour said: “Officers were going round asking people if they had seen anything,” he said.

“Suddenly they all ran away which I think is when they must have had the message they had found him. It’s a terrible thing to have happened.”

The garden where the boy was found had recently been redesigned after it was ripped apart in the tornado of 2005.

Mohammed Riaz, another neighbour, said: “The police helicopter was hovering overhead and then tragically an ambulance appeared outside a home. We were told the boy had been floating in a pond.”

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