Two Girls Die in Pattaya Pool During Breath-Holding Game

Heartbreaking news. This sounds like a classic case of Shallow Water Blackout, which can happen to even strong swimmers during breath-holding games. A tragic reminder for parents and kids about the hidden dangers of these underwater challenges. RIP to both girls.

Never, EVER, leave your child alone swimming without a strong adult swimmer. Many Thais don't swim. Even those who do can get into trouble. Poor girls, poor parents!

How very sad.

From what i could see, the girls were having fun playing in the water but strayed towards the deeper water and suddenly found themselves out of their depth.

Someone drowning will grab whatever they can to get back to the surface, often putting the rescuer in danger.

Tragic as a safe depth of water was only a few feet away.

RIP young ladies.

So, no supervision of minors from any angle from anyone = negligence.

Very sad.

R.I.P girls.

6 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

So, no supervision of minors from any angle from anyone = negligence.

The "children" were 14, and -- assuming they could swim -- I do not see much negligence if no adult was close.

My daughter competes in swimming, but whenever she is going though her apnea diving training plan, I am always present (watching her actively) and she would not get the idea in her head to do such a thing alone, because it is objectively dangerous; she is 10, and this is a simple question of education.

If one of those 14 year olds could not swim (well), however, the negligence is quite obvious; the parents would then clearly be at fault, on top of their sad loss.

The Federal Hotel Bangkok 2009 or 10, (boy, do I miss The Federal, excellent coffee shop and great personnel) I'm by the pool there is a 8 or 9 year old Thai boy in the pool, shallow end, the Mom and punter drinking bier Changs other end and not watching.

Kid slips under into the deep end parents oblivious. I jump in pull the kid out. As he's coughing and crying I ask the adults to please keep a better eye on the boy. Yeeesh....

on occasion at my condo parents from all natlonalities are guilty of leaving children unsupervised at the pool. most are beligerent when warnredof the dangers of neglect.

Kids die in Australia playing the same silly game!

19 minutes ago, jippytum said:

on occasion at my condo parents from all natlonalities are guilty of leaving children unsupervised at the pool. most are beligerent when warnredof the dangers of neglect.

Yes, remorse only comes with great loss. They do not like their faults to be pointed out to them.

5 hours ago, Priorexpat said:

The Federal Hotel Bangkok 2009 or 10, (boy, do I miss The Federal, excellent coffee shop and great personnel) I'm by the pool there is a 8 or 9 year old Thai boy in the pool, shallow end, the Mom and punter drinking bier Changs other end and not watching.

Kid slips under into the deep end parents oblivious. I jump in pull the kid out. As he's coughing and crying I ask the adults to please keep a better eye on the boy. Yeeesh....

I remember the Federal Hotel well ...... one time my wife was swimming there and she swam to the side of the pool and had her back sucked onto the return to the pump hole....she didn't know what had her........ could have been worse for anyone with long hair being sucked in........ Soi 11 was always a great place to stay.

In the Navy Seals Pool training they have instructors in Scuba gear in the water monitoring the trainees when doing the training were they may blackout.

Sad Event. RIP

When I prepare for distance I hyperventilate using deep breathing and exhalation. Once I feel the need for air I'm up. I've pushed it in the past and probably pretty lucky something didn't happen. Don't think anyone would notice until to late.

What a waste of young lives. One would've expected a Lifesaver to be in attendance at a such a pool, open for use by minors; but TIT, and H&S is a joke.

"one appeared to get into difficulty underwater while the other attempted to help. Both then disappeared beneath the surface."

In lifeguard training we were told that many a rescuer was drowned when pulled down by the panicked drowning victim. We were taught to approach the victim from behind, throw an arm over their shoulder diagonally across their chest to their armpit. This gives the rescuer complete control of the victim no matter how hard the victim thrashes and then sidestroke to safety.

50 minutes ago, nausea said:

What a waste of young lives. One would've expected a Lifesaver to be in attendance at a such a pool, open for use by minors; but TIT, and H&S is a joke.

A lifeguard at a condo/village pool? Never seen it and doubt many condo associations could afford it.

What a dreadful tragedy on all fronts for the girls and their families and friends

RIP

Sad indeed. We played this game when we were kids. No one ever talked to us about just how little water it takes to die when aspirated.

Either they were playing some sort of very stupid game, or doing some kind of crazy Tik Tok challenge, or they strayed into the deep end without any swimming skills.

The shame about this is the possibility that they were never taught how to swim properly. I can teach somebody how to swim in 10 minutes. This is a very simple skill to learn. It just takes a bit of confidence and having somebody to teach you properly.

4 hours ago, jippytum said:

on occasion at my condo parents from all natlonalities are guilty of leaving children unsupervised at the pool. most are beligerent when warnredof the dangers of neglect.

At 14 years old, they should be more than old enough to take care of themselves and able to visit the swimming pool alone. At the age of 7, before we even had leared to swim, my friend and I often went to the large public swimming pool and jumped from the 1 meter jump at the deep end, since we had simply figured out, that we could propel ourselves a few meters to the edge of the pool, simply by moving our arms and legs like animals instinctively do.

On 6/13/2026 at 11:46 PM, Georgealbert said:

The mother of one of the victims said she had dropped her daughter at the village at around 4pm to visit a close friend. She told reporters that she had warned her daughter not to enter the pool because of safety concerns

What kind of mother leaves her teenage daughter alone at a swimming pool with a swimsuit and tells her not to enter the pool? of course she's going to enter the pool. Sounds like she just wanted some alone time with the "close friend" and didn't think about the dangers. Not to mention leaving teens unsupervised is against the pool rules. The pool itself sounds dangerous too- 3 meters is deep enough even for adults to drown.

2 minutes ago, Xonax said:

At 14 years old, they should be more than old enough to take care of themselves and able to visit the swimming pool alone.

If there is a life guard - sure. Completely unsupervised with no lifeguard at a 3m pool? No.

2 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

If there is a life guard - sure. Completely unsupervised with no lifeguard at a 3m pool? No.

Do you still hold hands with an adult when crossing the road?

They are 14 years old, not babies.

Lifeguard in a community pool? When I was a kid the closest I ever saw was a youngster in the ticket office taking our money. I don't know how I survived all those years, although I suspect it's about taking personal responsibility and not relying on the system to provide support that so many do these days and when it turns to sh!t wail about not getting the support they needed.

In the end this was a tragedy and happens far too often, mostly in village ponds and the like.

The youngest granddaughter started her first formal swimming lesson yesterday.

On 6/13/2026 at 9:50 PM, Nemises said:

Heartbreaking news. This sounds like a classic case of Shallow Water Blackout, which can happen to even strong swimmers during breath-holding games. A tragic reminder for parents and kids about the hidden dangers of these underwater challenges. RIP to both girls.

I didn't know that there was such a thing. Thanks. I will keep a closer on my Thai ladies kid's from now on.

23 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

So, no supervision of minors from any angle from anyone = negligence.

Very sad!

In my experience over 20 years there is never or very rarely a lifeguard at Thai pools. Even at a school pool that I sometimes swim in! Another hotel water park pool does have a high lifeguard chair but rarely is a lifeguard sat in it. If present at all, he's usually sitting in the shade on his phone where he can hardly see anything of the two pools anyway.

P.S: Nor do they clear the pools when there are thunderstorms!

What heartbreaking news for the family and their school friends. I pulled a young 9 year old to safety from the bottom of a hotel pool in Buggiba Malta. She was semi conscoius and with the help of another bystander we hoisted her from the pool and laid her on her side by the pool edge encouraging her to breath and cough out the water she had swallowed. It worked. After a few moments she was spluttering, coughing and quickly recovered from the ordeal. She must have been at the bottom of the pool for just for a few moments. She was lucky, We were relieved.

16 hours ago, J Branche said:

When I prepare for distance I hyperventilate using deep breathing and exhalation. Once I feel the need for air I'm up. I've pushed it in the past and probably pretty lucky something didn't happen. Don't think anyone would notice until to late.

You should never hyperventilate before apnea diving; which is: fast, shallow breaths.

Your lungs are already almost fully saturated with oxygen at a normal resting breath -- which weirdly is what you are describing in the second half of your sentence: both are NOT the same!

Hyperventilating doesn't add more oxygen; instead, it rapidly purges carbon dioxide (CO2) from your blood, which makes this a very dangerous practice, as it suppresses your body's natural urge to breathe (which then can lead to sudden loss of consciousness).

9 hours ago, SunsetT said:

In my experience over 20 years there is never or very rarely a lifeguard at Thai pools.

And why would you? Taking care of children is the job of the parents.

That you do not go into the water when it is thundering, German kids learn when they are 4, at their first swimming lesson. It really is general knowledge.

6 hours ago, jts-khorat said:

You should never hyperventilate before apnea diving; which is: fast, shallow breaths.

Your lungs are already almost fully saturated with oxygen at a normal resting breath -- which weirdly is what you are describing in the second half of your sentence: both are NOT the same!

Hyperventilating doesn't add more oxygen; instead, it rapidly purges carbon dioxide (CO2) from your blood, which makes this a very dangerous practice, as it suppresses your body's natural urge to breathe (which then can lead to sudden loss of consciousness).

My bad. Deep breaths trying to up take as much oxygen as possible