The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspected drowning of a four-year-old boy, a man believed to be in his 20s and a 55-year-old man in separate incidents this weekend.

The suspected drownings bring the national record up to nine for the year; however, police will await an official autopsy before the deaths are officially categorised.

On Saturday, police and EMS personnel were called to a High Vista residence off the Eastern Road shortly after 5pm.

There, they found relatives administering CPR to a young boy who they had just pulled from the bottom of a pool.

The boy was rushed to hospital, but he was pronounced dead despite life-saving efforts made by medical personnel.

The lifeless body of the adult man was pulled from waters off Hanna Road in eastern New Providence yesterday.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police reports, which state a report was made shortly before 3 pm.

According to police, the man was pulled out of the water shortly after it is believed he drowned.

In the third incident, a 55-year-old man got into difficulties while swimming in the canal at Xanadu Beach shortly after 5pm yesterday. The man, from Freeport, Grand Bahama, was assisted to shore but was found to be unresponsive. EMS personnel arrived at the scene and the man was pronounced dead.

The incidents occurred less than two weeks after the body of a woman was recovered around 10am on April 1 from waters off Potter’s Cay dock.

Before that, on March 28, a man’s body was found on the shoreline at Dicks Point in Eastern New Providence.

On March 10, the body of a man was discovered submerged under a fishing vessel moored at the southeastern end of Potters Cay Dock, moments after he went in to dive up some conch for the start of the day.

However, he failed to surface. Ten days before this discovery, on March 1, a 59-year-old tourist drowned during a diving expedition off Stuart Cove’s dive resort.

On February 25, an 87-year-old tourist drowned while snorkelling with a female friend near the Club Med Resort in San Salvador.

And on January 14, the body of a tourist was pulled from a canal in the area of West End, Grand Bahama.