HOUSTON (KTRK) – On Saturday, an 8-year-old girl drowned after she was sucked into a pipe while she was swimming in a hotel pool.
It happened at the DoubleTree Hotel on the city’s northwest side.
The girl was initially reported missing, but after a search crew reviewed security footage, they found she went underwater and did not resurface.
That’s when they drained the pool and sent a camera almost 20 feet into one of the pool’s pipes.
“(It) appears right now the pump was put in there, and it was probably malfunctioning because of the open pipe that she ended up in was supposed to be pushing water out,” said Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch. “And right beside that pipe, there was another pipe that actually had a big plastic filter like screen on the front that’s supposed to be sucking water in. So I know there was one speculation last night from somebody that knows quite a bit and everything that that the pump was wired wrong. So it was sucking instead of pushing.”
The search crew said it took about 13 hours to recover the girl’s body.
An investigation is underway. The pool is temporarily closed.
It happened at the DoubleTree Hotel on the city’s northwest side.
The girl was initially reported missing, but after a search crew reviewed security footage, they found she went underwater and did not resurface.
That’s when they drained the pool and sent a camera almost 20 feet into one of the pool’s pipes.
“(It) appears right now the pump was put in there, and it was probably malfunctioning because of the open pipe that she ended up in was supposed to be pushing water out,” said Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch. “And right beside that pipe, there was another pipe that actually had a big plastic filter like screen on the front that’s supposed to be sucking water in. So I know there was one speculation last night from somebody that knows quite a bit and everything that that the pump was wired wrong. So it was sucking instead of pushing.”
The search crew said it took about 13 hours to recover the girl’s body.
An investigation is underway. The pool is temporarily closed.