Costa Del Sol deaths – Brit dad, 52, and kids, 9 and 16, who drowned in Spain hotel pool couldn’t swim – The Sun
A BRIT dad and two kids drowned in a Costa del Sol pool tragedy on Christmas Eve couldn't swim.
Gabriel Diya, 52, daughter Comfort, nine, and son Praise-Emmanuel, 16, died after they jumped into the water in a vain attempt to save her on Tuesday.
Family members are reported to have made the claim when she was interviewed 48 hours after the tragedy.
The Civil Guard leading the judicial probe have yet to make any formal statement about the family admission.
But a police source said: “Investigators have been told the three relatives didn’t know how to swim or didn’t swim very well.
“Although there has been speculation about the pool pump system, investigators have found no evidence pointing to any anomalies like increased suction pressure."
It is understood Mr Diya was a Christian pastor based in South East London.
The father and daughter both had British passports while Comfort's brother had an American passport.
It comes after Comfort's swimming cap was found in the pool's pump at Club La Costa World in Fuengirola – with speculation that suction problems turned the pool into a death trap.
BOMBSHELL CLAIM
It was believed the problems could have made it impossible for the little girl's brother and father to reach the surface after they jumped in to save her.
But now it appears it was a straightforward case of drowning, following the admission from the little girl's sister.
It has been claimed the family could have died due to a temporary suction problem which had nothing to do with any pool anomalies or problems resort chiefs could have foreseen.
The nine-year-old girl was swimming with her sister, 12, on December 24 when the tragedy unfolded.
The sister then raised the alarm, with her dad and son jumping into the water in a vain attempt to save her.
On Wednesday a witness told how the mum, believed to be from London, “stayed calm” and prayed by their bodies to try to will them back to life as he performed CPR with resort staff on the three tourists.
Dad-of-three Josias Fletchman, from Manchester, said in a moving account of how he tried to save them: “The mum was praying for them to come back to life.
“She was calm. She was touching their bodies. She continued praying even after the ambulance people arrived and had stopped trying to revive them.
'IT WAS HORRIBLE'
“She exercised her faith to the limit. I was performing CPR on her husband but I’m a believer and I prayed as well.
“She strengthened me in the way she reacted. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Another witness described the horrific scenes, saying she had been left unable to sleep after hearing the mother's cries.
She said: "I noticed a woman walking towards to where I was, she looked really distraught.
"When she came closer she was just saying help me, help me, please help me – my children are drowning.
"It was horrible."
An FCO spokesperson said after news of the tragedy emerged: “We are offering assistance to a British woman following an incident in Spain.”
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