Aquatic Nightmare: Decade-Long Battle for Justice in Paris Pool Tragedy

At the end of the summer of 2015, Ilias, 4 years old, was found unconscious, without armbands, at the bottom of an outdoor pool 1.80 meters deep at Aquaboulevard. His father, Mohamed O., had left him for a moment under the responsibility of his older brother, Amine, 7 years old, in this large aquatic complex in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Resuscitated and taken in a serious condition to the Necker hospital, Ilias is no longer the same today. His life has changed forever. Quadriplegic, deaf and mute, he is unable to feed or move on his own. The 14-year-old teenager is recognized as having a disability rate equal to or greater than 85%.

Ten years after the tragedy, the victim’s father and the Aquaboulevard company are finally appearing before the court for unintentional injuries with incapacity exceeding three months due to a manifestly deliberate breach of a safety or precautionary obligation, reports Le Parisien. The teenager’s state of health did not allow him to attend the trial. At the stand, Mohamed expresses regret. "I didn’t see him leave, otherwise the accident wouldn’t have happened," he laments, overwhelmed, stating that Ilias was a child "who moves a lot." He feels guilty. "For 10 years, I have lived in pain and sorrow," he explains.

The court is surprised that the lifeguards present on the site could not notice this young child, evolving alone and without armbands in a 800 m2 pool. "The pool was constantly monitored" the morning of the accident, assures Jolly, former director of operations of the site and representative of Aquaboulevard before the justice system. He adds: "There may be a moment when a situation escapes a lifeguard, but it is very rare, or it does not happen." These allegations are far from convincing the president. He points to "a chain of three monumental errors: a child under 12 in a large pool, without parents and without armbands," reminding that three minutes of drowning are enough to cause irreversible sequelae.

Furthermore, several Aquaboulevard employees, during the investigation, identified malfunctions in the organization of the site’s supervision: high turnover, lack of equipment, or "overloaded or inaccurate schedules." The schedule submitted to the investigators had indeed been "hand-scribbled, with many overloads," the president points out. That day, an agent took up his post late, an intern left the site for a personal emergency, and another went on break without being able to say who was replacing her while more than 1,300 entries were recorded at noon. "A perfectly chaotic and non-existent organization," denounces the lawyer for the civil parties, Clément Testard.

The lawyer is asking for 15,000 euros for each of his clients: the victim’s mother, but also Amine, her brother, and Hajar, her sister. At the end of the hearing, the public prosecutor’s office requested a 100,000 euro fine against the aquatic complex (Paris 15th) of which 20,000 euros were suspended. The public prosecutor’s office requested a discharge for the father. It believes that the "rehabilitation of the defendant is acquired."