Five lifeguards have been sacked for a botched AI job after a boy almost drowned in a swimming pool.
An investigation is underway as officials attempt to work out how the dramatic incident unfolded at Waterlane Leisure Centre in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
An on-duty lifeguard pulled the youngster out of the water at the sport centre's main pool after a member of public notified the team.
The incident took place after swimming lessons had concluded that evening in the 25m pool on May 1.
The drowning detection technology, run by artificial intelligence, has been curated to help the lifeguards – but it had been blocked by a buoy, it was revealed.
Poolview Plus+ is used at several sites run by EveryoneActive, the facility's operator.
The eight underwater cameras and sensors help to track swimming activity and can deliver immediate alerts to the lifeguards on duty should problems arise.
But that night, it is said a buoy was left on the alert button on the AI system, which meant that it did not sound the alarm to lifeguards when the child started to drown.
One of the fired lifeguards was not even on duty that day
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The lifeguard on duty rushed to assist the boy after being alerted to the emergency and performed CPR at the poolside.
An ambulance descended on the scene to take the young boy to hospital after it was said that he had spent around three minutes underwater.
Stuart Jardine, area contract manager for EveryoneActive, told EDP: "We can confirm a boy was rescued from the main pool on Friday May 1.
"He was taken to hospital for monitoring and was released over the bank holiday weekend having made a full recovery.
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The council confirmed the investigation would continue
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"An investigation into the incident is ongoing and as such, we are unable to provide any further detail."
Subsequently, five staffers were laid off after a series of disciplinary hearings and investigations into the chaotic Friday night.
One of the affected employees includes a teenager who was not even working that day, along with two others who had been on duty.
The disgruntled employee received a letter which informed him that findings from the probe found that there were "breaches of critical health and safety practices, including lifeguarding malpractice".
It added this included the "misuse of the drowning detection system".
"The matters of concern were: findings from investigations following a review of the incident on May 1 including breaches of critical health and safety practices including lifeguarding malpractice including the misuse of the drowning detection system," the letter read, which was shown to EDP.
"You were unable to give an adequate or satisfactory explanation of your actions."
Other impacted workers include a general leisure assistant, who had worked at the centre for 10 months. The five are seeking to appeal the decision.
A spokesman for East Suffolk Council said: "Exercising its Health and Safety responsibilities, and with the co-operation of the facility’s operator, Everyone Active, East Suffolk Council is currently investigating an incident which occurred at Waterlane Leisure Centre on May 1.
“Given the nature and seriousness of this incident, it is likely to be a lengthy investigation, and we are unable to comment further until this work is completed.”
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