Incident Report: Ajay Shourie
Aug 24, 2021Homepage > Incident Reports > Residential Waters
Two-year-old Ajay Shourie from Leicester was visiting his grandmother and his mother, Puja Shourie, at her home in Pedmore, Stourbridge, on Monday, 31 March 2014, when he was found unconscious in her swimming pool.
Ajay’s mum later said that she had been feeling unwell and was lying on the living room sofa whilst her mother was on the phone (Express & Star):
Ajay had wandered off. I got up and asked my mother where he was. We were looking in all the rooms and then I heard my mother scream. He was my first child and had always been healthy, happy and cheerful.
Ajay had managed to open the sliding doors and gain access to the swimming pool, which was located in a conservatory. He entered the water and was unable to support himself. As the family began to search the property, Ajay’s grandmother noticed the sliding doors to the pool were slightly ajar. When she entered the conservatory, she spotted Ajay unconscious in the pool. The family recovered him from the water whilst distressed relatives ran outside to seek help from passers-by.
A man stopped his car and rushed into the house to immediately begin CPR while an ambulance was called. Detective Constable Jill Ansell recounted the events which followed to the Coroner at the subsequent inquest (Express & Star, 2014):
I had been driving along Worcester Lane at around 16:20, while off duty, when she noticed a woman in distress flagging down cars. One driver had stopped and I realised something was wrong. I turned the car around and went to investigate.
I went inside the house and saw Ajay on the floor, with the driver of the car trying to resuscitate him. I went to the other side of Ajay and made sure his airways were clear and we took it in turns to give compressions until the ambulance arrived. There was no way I was going to stop, I wanted to give the little boy every chance.
We continued CPR until the first responder arrived.
Ajay was taken to Russells Hall Hospital, where shortly after arrival, he was pronounced dead at 17:02.
The Coroner’s inquest was held at Smethwick Coroner’s Court on 25 June 2014, presided over by the Senior Coroner for the Black Country, Robin Balmain. DC Ansell told the Coroner that she had been impressed by the actions of the young man who had stopped his car to help.
The pathologist, Dr Phil Cox, gave the medical cause of death was dry drowning. His post-mortem had shown little sign of water in the youngster's lungs, which he told the Coroner was not uncommon in the circumstances. His opinion was that the most likely explanation was that Ajay's breathing reflex had gone into spasm, causing a response known as dry drowning. He attributed this to the shock of hitting the water. He told the Coroner that Ajay’s death would have been instantaneous.
Coroner Robin Balmain said (Express & Star, 2014):
This is an unbelievably painful incident for the whole family, it is difficult to imagine what they are going through. The circumstances are perfectly clear and could have happened to any family and it is very distressing.
The Coroner entered a finding of accidental death.
References (3)
Note: I wish those affected all the best in their future. No part of this article purports to attribute blame. See our methodology page for further details of how these case summaries are constructed.
Express & Star. (2014). Toddler found dead in grandparents’ swimming pool in Stourbridge. (4th April). Available at: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/emergency-services/2014/04/04/toddler-found-dead-in-grandparents-swimming-pool-in-stourbridge/ accessed 24th August 2021.
Express & Star. (2014). Two-year-old boy drowned after falling into swimming pool. (26th June). Available at: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2014/06/26/two-year-old-boy-drowned-after-falling-into-swimming-pool/ accessed 24th August 2021.
Stourbridge News. (2014). Toddler drowned in grandmother’s swimming pool, inquest heard. (25th June). Available at: https://www.stourbridgenews.co.uk/news/11299986.toddler-drowned-in-grandmothers-swimming-pool-inquest-heard/ accessed 24th August 2021.
Citation: Jacklin, D. 2021. Case Summary. Ajay Shourie. Water Incident Research Hub, 24 August.
