SOUTHERNWOOD residents yesterday questioned the way Buffalo City Metro firefighters dealt with the drowning of a six- year-old boy at a primary school on Sunday.
Damian Christian was discovered at the bottom of the pool after going missing.
Eyewitnesses said when the firefighters got to the scene the boy was still breathing, and if CPR had been performed he would have survived.
“The firefighters told us they did not know to perform CPR and just stood there doing nothing,” said Heidi Black, whose son 15-year-old-son Trystan Piel, 15, had pulled Damian out of the pool.
According to Werner Bester, media liaison officer for Dynam ic Ambulances, they received a call from the firefighters at about 11.30am and reacted immediately by sending out an entire fleet, about four vehicles.
“At 11.30am we got the call.
“By 11.40am we had declared the child dead,” he said.
He said that Dynamic paramedics had tried to resuscitate the child but it was already too late.
Southernwood Primary School principal Mike Kockott said it remained a mystery how a six-year-old boy had managed to get in, considering that the high wall was fenced with razor wire.
“We have a barbed wire security wall that is about 2.4m high and the gate is locked all the time. We suspect he may have been assisted by someone,” said Kockott.
The Daily Dispatch visited the school on Monday afternoon, and the fencing around the school and especially around the pool area seemed efficient; the wall is high and there is razor wire over the wall and the gate.
Questions were sent to Buffalo City Metro about the allegations against the firefighters’ handling of the situation, but no response was received.
‘He was still breathing and the fire fighters just stood there’
Damian Christian was discovered at the bottom of the pool after going missing.
Eyewitnesses said when the firefighters got to the scene the boy was still breathing, and if CPR had been performed he would have survived.
“The firefighters told us they did not know to perform CPR and just stood there doing nothing,” said Heidi Black, whose son 15-year-old-son Trystan Piel, 15, had pulled Damian out of the pool.
According to Werner Bester, media liaison officer for Dynam ic Ambulances, they received a call from the firefighters at about 11.30am and reacted immediately by sending out an entire fleet, about four vehicles.
“At 11.30am we got the call.
“By 11.40am we had declared the child dead,” he said.
He said that Dynamic paramedics had tried to resuscitate the child but it was already too late.
Southernwood Primary School principal Mike Kockott said it remained a mystery how a six-year-old boy had managed to get in, considering that the high wall was fenced with razor wire.
“We have a barbed wire security wall that is about 2.4m high and the gate is locked all the time. We suspect he may have been assisted by someone,” said Kockott.
The Daily Dispatch visited the school on Monday afternoon, and the fencing around the school and especially around the pool area seemed efficient; the wall is high and there is razor wire over the wall and the gate.
Questions were sent to Buffalo City Metro about the allegations against the firefighters’ handling of the situation, but no response was received.
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