2-year-old boy rescued from Napier pool dies in hospital

The 2-year-old boy who was rescued from a pool at the Napier Aquatic Center last Saturday has died in hospital.

A police spokesman confirmed that the boy, who was initially taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital, died at Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland on Wednesday.

The spokesperson described the death as a “drowning incident.”

Emergency services were called to the pool around 11:56 am on December 5.

The boy was initially transported to the hospital with critical injuries, before being transported to Starship, where he later died from his injuries on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for WorkSafe said it was doing initial inquiries to determine what happened and what its next steps might be.

A police spokesman said investigations are under way into the circumstances.

The center is owned by the Napier City Council, who said “our condolences to this child’s whānau.”

“The Aquatics Center staff are understandably emotionally shocked by the child’s passing. We will support our team that responded to the incident.”

On Monday, the council began an incident review process conducted by an outside agency that specializes in these types of reviews.

The council spokesman said the council would work with WorkSafe and the medical examiner “to make sure they have all the information they need.”