DONCASTER A five-year-old girl drowned in a swimming pool packed with people taking advantage of the weekend’s sunny weather.

The child slipped under the water at the Dome Leisure Complex, in Doncaster, while with a group of family and friends on Saturday. She was pulled unconscious from the water at 3.45pm and the pool was cleared while lifeguards and paramedics tried to revive her.

The girl, who is from the Leeds area, was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary but was pronounced dead at 6pm. Police said that they were treating the death as suspicious as “a matter of course” but that it appeared to be a tragic accident.

The girl’s parents have asked police not to publicly identify her yet. A postmortem examination is set to be held today.

A spokesman said that the Dome complex followed guidelines from the Institute of Sport Recreation Management which stated that every two children aged between 5 and 8 must be accompanied by a swimming adult. Hundreds of youngsters had come to the pool on one of the warmest days of the year.