The parents of a toddler who drowned in a Lanzarote swimming pool were seen desperately searching for her.
The girl, aged 4, vanished before being found in the main pool at HL Playa Blanca resort in Lanzarote on Saturday.
It was the latest in a spate of child drownings across Spain, which has sparked a warning for parents to supervise their children when near water.
Holidaymakers also questioned why the lifeguard wasn’t at their post when the girl went missing, with guests saying they were also regularly assigned to towel duty at the 164-room resort.
Jake Rhodes, staying at the 4-star resort, told Metro: ‘It was all such a shock.
‘I don’t know what the lifeguard was doing at the time but sometimes he wasn’t at his post.
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‘It was by the main pool. But I don’t know where the parents were. I think she ran off and they were trying to find her.
‘I saw them doing CPR and doing everything, trying to save the poor girl.’
Her death is not being treated as suspicious. No other details about the victim or her family have been released.
The girl passed away despite attempts to revive her at the scene by other guests and a site nurse.
Ambulances and police were called, along with an emergency services helicopter, at around 1.30pm to the resort in Playa Blanca.
A spokesman at a regional government emergency response coordination centre said: ‘The Canary Islands Government’s Emergency and Security Coordination Centre received an alert reporting that a young girl showing signs of drowning had been pulled from a hotel swimming pool and required medical assistance.
‘The 112 service immediately mobilised the necessary emergency resources.
‘A coordinating nurse, present in the operations room, confirmed during her interview with the lifeguard that the girl had gone into cardiac arrest and gave instructions to begin resuscitation manoeuvres.’
Another British four-year-old also drowned after falling into a pool at a holiday home near the Costa del Sol taking the total to six in 72 hours across Spain.
Sebastián Quintana, an expert in drowning prevention, said that the ‘tragic locations’ of the six deaths were Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.
He warned: ‘The lack of attention, supervision, or even absence at the bathing area by the adults in charge is the main cause of these human tragedies.
‘A child won’t scream for help. Drowning is a very quick and silent event.’
In nine out of ten cases, the parents were absent while their child drowned, said Quintana.
Hoteles Lopez, who run the resort, has been approached for comment.