A CRIMINAL investigation into the swimming pool deaths of a British father, his nine-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son has been shelved.
A Fuengirola court has decided that the tragic triple-drowning at the Club la Costa World (CLC) resort in Mijas was an accident.
Police and prosecutors had launched an investigation after the Christmas Eve, 2019, incident in which tourists Gabriel Diya, 52 Comfort Diya, nine, and Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, died.
They were on a mini-break when Comfort got into difficulties in the pool. Her father and brother jumped in to her rescue, but with fatal consequences. Her distraught mother Olubunmi Diya could only watch the triple-tragedy unfold.
A court report shows that the three drowned ‘probably due to their lack of swimming skills combined with the stress, nerves and panic they suffered in an attempt to save their lives and that of their relative’.
The court agreed to close the proceedings with the approval of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and based largely on two reports from the Guardia Civil.
Both reports – one by the Guardia Civil’s specialised divers unit – could find no fault with the pool’s pumps and filtration system, and nothing in the water that was dangerous.
The pool was properly licenced and complied with the regulations.
Although the case has been closed, the court has left the door open to a civil case or to proceedings by local authorities.
The decision to shelve the case can also be taken to the Court of Appeal in Malaga.
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