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11-year-old girl drowns at Cyrus Green Pool

News Channel 8 photo by SAMARA SODOS

Britney Mills appeared to be swimming fine, but one of the three lifeguards on duty suddenly noticed her at the bottom of the pool just before 2 p.m., Tampa police said.

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TBO.com

Published: July 8, 2009

Updated: 07/08/2009 10:57 pm

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Britney Mills

TAMPA - An 11-year-old girl drowned Wednesday at a city pool watched over by three lifeguards.

Britney Mills was among a group of children from a Jackson Heights recreation center who were at Cyrus Green Pool on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as part of a summer recreation program. Britney appeared to be swimming fine, but one of the three lifeguards on duty suddenly noticed her at the bottom of the pool, Tampa police said.

Tampa Fire Rescue came to the scene about 2 p.m. Lifeguards and paramedics performed CPR on the girl for about half an hour, but she was declared dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at about 2:35 p.m.

The pool was closed for the rest of the day but will reopen today for its regular hours of noon to 7 p.m., said Linda Carlo, spokeswoman for the city's parks and recreation department.

Wednesday afternoon, the pool was open solely for the children from the Cyrus Green, Fair Oaks and Jackson Heights city recreation centers. The children were participating in a recreational swim program, Carlo said.

The closing of the Williams Park pool in East Tampa didn't affect the number of children at Cyrus Green Pool. Williams Park pool closed at the end of last summer and never reopened, she said.

Carlo said Cyrus Green Pool didn't have an excess of children. There were a 30 to 40 children in the pool and on the pool deck, she said. Maximum occupancy of the pool is 63.

Three lifeguards were there to monitor the children, Carlo said. The American Red Cross suggests that there should be one lifeguard for every 25 people at a pool, she said.

The city made grief counselors available for the children and staff, Carlo said.

At least two of the lifeguards were veterans in their field, with one having 22 years' experience and another having 10, she said.

Carlo said the parks administration will debrief the lifeguards to ascertain whether they followed the proper procedure. Asked whether any of the lifeguards might be reprimanded or otherwise punished, she said they wouldn't, "Unless there was gross negligence of duty and it doesn't appear to be that way right now."

"They performed the rescue and unfortunately the child did not survive."

Britney's aunt, Sherrell Carswell, said the family is upset. "Our family needs answers."

She said police had talked to the family about the death, but no one from the parks department or the pool had spoken to them as of late Wednesday.

"Our family has a lot of questions that need to be answered and no one from parks or the pool has talked to us about it."

She said Britney was a good swimmer and did not appear to have any health problems.

Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said police won't be certain of the cause of death until an autopsy is completed.

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