A 14-year-old boy from the Isle of Man has died on holiday in Thailand after he was sucked into a swimming pool vent.

Nathan Clark was on holiday with his father, brother, stepbrother and stepmother in the resort of Pattaya and was due to return home this week.

Nathan, who had been attending an international school in the country for the past year, was in a whirlwind-type swimming pool at a water park.

It is thought that he lost his goggles at the bottom of the pool and tried to remove a grate to fetch them before he was swept into the pool’s pump system.

His mother, Marion, who was at home in Douglas on the Isle of Man, said that she thought her son had removed an unsecured grille to gain access to a vent.

His elder brother, Rhys, 15, who was also in the pool, called for help after Nathan disappeared but the family later alleged that lifeguards initially failed to help because they did not believe that the grille could be moved.

Nathan’s father, Jimmy, jumped into the pool to try to find him. It was claimed that only then did the lifeguard start a search of the pumping system.

Nathan’s body was found in a pipe connected to the pool 20 minutes after the alarm was raised.

Local news sources said that the incident, on Friday afternoon happened at the Pattaya Park Hotel, a large hotel complex about 60 miles from the capital.

Nathan had been due to return to the Isle of Man on Wednesday. His father works for an Indian engineering company and is believed to live overseas.

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