European girl, 10, drowns after hair caught in hot tub in Dubai

Hamza M. Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A 10-year-old European girl drowned in a hot tub after her hair got entangled in its filter, police announced on Tuesday.

The young girl got trapped underwater during the tragic incident that happened at her parents’ home. The Dubai Police General Command expressed the force’s heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

The Director of the Crime Scene Investigation Centre at the Dubai Police General Department of and Forensic Science and Criminology Colonel Ahmad Humaid Al Marri revealed that the incident happened in Bur Dubai area.

Following an alert that a girl had drowned in the one-metre deep hot tub a crime scene Investigation team rushed to the scene. Onsite investigations showed she drowned after her hair became entangled in the filter.

“The tub’s water flow mechanism pulled her hair down through the holes. She struggled and failed to free it and get out of the tub. She got trapped underwater and ultimately succumbed to drowning,” said Colonel Al Marri.

“The girl had asked for her father’s permission to use the tub. After sometime her father noticed her absence and no longer heard any sound from the location of the tub. He rushed to the tub to find his poor daughter motionless.

“She was pinned to the bottom of the tub,” explained Al Marri, adding that the tub had a powerful suction mechanism. As a result of the intense pull, thick tufts of her hair were extracted to the bottom of the tub and she drowned.

Police visited the family to express condolences and helped expedite procedures for repatriating the body. They transferred the tub to the forensic lab for further technical examination by the Forensic Engineering Division.

The division’s officers discovered that the suction power across the tub’s holes was unequal. Also, they detected that the tub’s manufacturer had committed an engineering flaw represented by gaps that lead to strong vortices.

The strong vortices affected the dynamics of the water stream. This made it easy for the water stream to suck hair strands. Al Marri called upon parents and guardians to supervise kids around tubs, swimming pools and beaches.

“It is easy for long hair, limbs, jewelry and pieces of bathing suit to become entangled in filters and drains. Children should always be taught the dangers of swimming alone or coming close to water bodies as they may slide into them.”