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US police tape (symbolic image)
Photo: ANDRI TAMBUNAN / AFP
Houston police are investigating the death of a girl whose body was found in a 16-inch-wide pipe at a hotel pool. The eight-year-old wanted to float in a “lazy river” on Saturday and was then sucked into the pool’s current system.
"They had to break up concrete to get her out, cut pipes, it was absolutely horrific," Richard Nava, the mother's lawyer, said at a news conference on Tuesday. It took the Houston Fire Department and the rest of the team about 13 hours to recover the child's body.
Aliyah's death was ruled an accidental death by drowning by forensic experts. According to the lawyer, it was avoidable: "The pool was not in order."
According to the lawsuit, Aliyah disappeared Saturday around 4:50 p.m. After searching for her everywhere in vain for 30 minutes, her mother turned to the hotel staff and asked them to check for her daughter on the surveillance videos. However, they explained to her that police officers would have to be present for this. At 5:20 p.m., Aliyah's mother called the police. During the subsequent review of the video footage, the eight-year-old was seen being pulled under the water and no longer resurfacing.
Only an examination of the pipe with a video camera brought clarity. "Given their size and the size of the pipe, we couldn't believe that something like this could happen," local TV station Khou11 quotes Equusearch employee Tim Miller, who was involved in the search. The unsecured opening of the pipe measures around 40 centimeters.
The family has filed a lawsuit against the hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow. A Hilton spokesman said it was deeply saddened by the girl's death, but noted that the hotel was independent and operated by a third party.
vet/AP