A nine-year-old girl drowned in a crowded swimming pool in Tiffin, Ohio, while taking swimming lessons.
The tragedy happened in late June at the Clinton Mobile Home Resort, where many adults and children were present.
The girl, Ava Rose McCourt, had been learning how to swim just days before.
Ava Rose McCourt, 9, drowned in a crowded swimming pool in Ohio
Highlights
- Ava Rose McCourt, 9, drowned in a crowded Ohio pool during a swimming lesson, despite being surrounded by adults and children.
- A child found Ava at the pool's deep end. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
- Drowning is the second leading cause of death for children 5-14; CDC urges constant adult supervision even with lifeguards.
Image credits: GoFundMe
She was in the pool with her father’s fiancée, Christina Bryant, who told police Ava was floating on a pool noodle.
Bryant said she looked away for just a moment, and when she turned back, Ava was gone.
Panic quickly spread as people in the pool began searching.
A child found Ava “lying on the bottom of the pool in the deep end.”
Then, a bystander pulled her from the water and performed CPR until emergency services arrived.
Ava was rushed to Mercy Tiffin Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Ava’s father, Jesse McCourt, had been fishing in a nearby lake at the time of the incident. He and Ava’s mother, Kinsey McCourt, are separated.
Both parents, along with Bryant, said they are supporting each other through the grief.
Image credits: Google Earth
“I don't understand how this is our reality right now,” Bryant wrote online. “We are broken... My fiancé, myself and Ava's bio mom are gonna have some really hard days.”
She said they are getting through life ”one minute at a time.”
“Please respect all parties involved. We will have no and I mean no issues over these kinds of things,” she said.
Police said the investigation is closed, and no charges will be filed.
Witnesses told officers that Ava disappeared without a splash or sound, and without anyone noticing.
One person said the incident was as fast as snapping a finger.
Christina Bryant told police she had been helping Ava learn to swim, but the child still couldn’t swim on her own.
Ava’s death has deeply affected her family and her school community.
Her teachers at Krout Elementary School shared warm memories of her.
“Ava was such a sweet girl with the biggest heart,” Lori Harp, a teacher at the school, wrote. “She loved giving me hugs at the end of the day and loved telling me stories when I helped with her class in 2nd grade.”
“She will be missed by so many, especially the staff at Krout,” she added.
The girl was still learning how to swim and disappeared without anyone noticing
Image credits: Christina Utpadel/Facebook
Her second-grade teacher, Melissa Cimo, added: “I absolutely loved being Ava's 2nd grade teacher and she brought so much joy to me.”
A vigil was held for Ava along the riverfront on July 2. She was buried the next day in Green Springs, Ohio.
Her aunt, Jaimee Sergent, said Ava was “so full of life.”
“She never met a stranger in her whole life. She has so much love for everybody,” she told 13 Action News.
A GoFundMe page set up by the family described Ava as “the most loving wonderful and thoughtful loving little angel we have ever met.”
It said the family had no life insurance and was not prepared for such a sudden loss.
Image credits: CDC.gov
This heartbreaking incident highlights the troubling statistic that drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury or death for children aged between five and 14.
There are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths every year in the U.S.