An 11-year-old British girl has died after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool in a Spanish holiday hotspot.
The schoolgirl was found in the water in a complex in Morro Jable, Fuertevenura on Thursday and was resuscitated by an on-duty lifeguard, before being rushed to hospital.
But due to the severity of her injuries, she was airlifted to a hospital in Las Palmas of Gran Canaria for further treatment, where she died on Friday after being pronounced clinically brain dead.
Spanish police confirmed the child’s death and clarified she was 11 years old and not five, as had been first reported by Spanish media.
They also said she got into difficulties in a children’s pool where the water depth was only 30 centimetres.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: ‘An 11-year-old British girl was taken to Fuerteventura Hospital on Thursday afternoon from a hotel in Morro Jable on the island’s south coast before being airlifted to the Maternal and Child University Hospital in Gran Canaria.
‘The alarm was raised around 1pm on Thursday and the youngster had gone into cardiac arrest.
‘The pool she was in was a small children’s pool which was only 30 centimetres deep.
An 11-year-old British girl has died after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool during a holiday in Fuerteventura
General view of a beach in Morro Jable, Fuerteventura, where the tragedy took place
‘The autopsy will help determine whether she suffered some sort of indisposition or health problem which might explain why she got into difficulties in such shallow water.
‘She died in the hospital in Las Palmas yesterday.’
‘We are not naming the hotel where this happened.’
Daily Mail has approached the Foreign Office for comment.
News of the British girl’s death emerged as the Spanish Royal Federation of Lifesaving and Rescue (RFESS), the national governing body for lifesaving and rescue sports in Spain, said it had never seen so many summer drownings in Spain in the past decade and described the situation this year as ‘catastrophic.’
A total of 209 people have died from drowning in May, June and July in Spain so far in 2025, according to figures it has been collating since 2016 which show this year is the worst yet.
Ninety-two of them lost their lives in July alone.
RFESS president Samuel Gomez Mayor said: ‘We are experiencing a catastrophic summer, which confirms that water does not take vacations.
‘We need to act immediately and expand the presence of trained lifeguards beyond the high season and also protect inland natural environments.’
The tragedy comes just over a week after a British brother and sister downed in the sea while on holiday in Spain.
Ameiya, 13, and 11-year-old Ricardo – known affectionately as Maya and Jubs – were pulled from the sea in Salou after getting into difficulty in the water, despite their father’s frantic attempt to save them.
The children, from Birmingham, were pictured smiling on Llarga Beach, where they had been holidaying with their parents, Shanice Del Brocco and Ricardo Sr, just hours before the disaster unfolded on July 29.
Local officials confirmed a yellow warning flag had been flying at the time to signal rough sea conditions – but lifeguards had finished their shift at 8pm, with the alarm raised just before 8.50pm.
Their father, Ricardo Sr, dived in to try and save them, but all three soon became overwhelmed by the rough conditions.
Rescuers pulled them from the water and carried out CPR on the sand. Ricardo was successfully resuscitated, but the children could not be saved.
Chief Inspector José Luis Gargallo, from the local police, said: ‘When the officers arrived, there were three people with significant difficulties in getting out of the sea. All resuscitation manoeuvres were performed on the children, but without success.’
He added: ‘We did everything possible. We put the father in a safe area and also took the minor and performed resuscitation on him but without success.’
A GoFundMe page launched by family friend Holly Marquis-Johnson described Maya and Jubs as ‘beautiful, bright, and deeply loved’ children who had been taken ‘far too soon’.
It also comes weeks after a British two-year-old died after being pulled from the pool of a private villa in Ibiza.
The tragic incident took place on June 5 in the affluent Sant Joan municipality in the northern part of the Spanish island.
The area is a popular holiday destination known for its luxury properties and whitewashed architecture.
Emergency services rushed to the property following reports of an unresponsive child.
According to local news outlet Diario de Ibiza, the British toddler was found without a pulse floating in the swimming pool.
Despite efforts to resuscitate the child for over an hour, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The boy and his family had been staying in the holiday home, it is understood.
