Boy Drowns at City Water Park

Boy Drowns at City Water Park

Published: June 13, 2012 (Issue # 1712)

St. Petersburg police are investigating the death of seven-year-old Grigory Kiriyenko, who drowned at St. Petersburg’s Waterville water park last Thursday.

The boy was visiting the water park on Ulitsa Korablestroitelei with his mother. Rosbalt news agency on Saturday cited the boy’s mother as saying he could not swim.

The news agency reported that the mother was taking her son to the toilet when her flip-flop broke, and she went to the changing room to change her footwear, telling the boy to wait for her outside the toilets. When she returned, however, he was nowhere to be seen.

The mother reportedly searched for her son for 15-20 minutes before finding his flip-flops on the side of the pool in the area where they had been swimming. On appealing to the lifeguard for help, she was told that the body of a boy had just been pulled from the water, Rosbalt reported.

Other local news agencies reported that around 5 p.m. when the family was preparing to leave, the boy left the locker room where his mother was dressing his younger brother and went down one of the slides one more time.

According to witness reports, the boy climbed to the top of the slide and some speculated he must have then injured himself on his way down.

Despite the presence of lifeguards, no one in the water park, which was reportedly busy that day, noticed that the boy was in trouble. Once the lifeguards realized the boy needed help and tried to resuscitate him, it was too late and he had already drowned.

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