Incident Report: Muhammad Talha Baber
Dec 27, 2020Homepage > Incident Reports > Commercial Pools
A 12-year-old boy, Muhammad Talha Baber, known as “Talha”, drowned at Newlands School on Friday, 1 July 2011, whilst on an educational holiday at Eastbourne Road, an activity centre in Seaford (UK) (Asian Image, 2012).
Newlands School is contracted by the Beaconhouse School System of Pakistan (SSP), which has 195,000 students worldwide and owns three schools in the UK, including Newlands School, through its UK subsidiary Beaconhouse Educational Services Ltd (Asian Image, 2012). Talha had come over to the UK on a school trip from Pakistan, which was organised by Ardmore Language School Ltd, a company that arranges and provides cultural and educational travel for students from around the world (Asian Image, 2012). Talha was part of the group staying at Newlands School in Seaford.
New groups arrived at the centre frequently as it was part of the School’s overseas educational outreach programme. Talha's mother had told the ambassadors taking the children on the trip that her son could not swim. There was a breakdown in communication, which led to his getting into the swimming pool (Asian Image, 2012).
The tragedy unfolded whilst pupils at the school itself were involved in putting on an arts festival. There were no plans for a pool session for the boys on the day of the accident. Newlands School Facility Manager, Mr Timothy Carter, was asked about 30 minutes before the session if he would lifeguard the session, which he agreed to. Around 17 boys entered the pool at around 19:00. At around 19:55, Talha was found floating face down in the pool by Mr Carter and two other boys (ITV News, 2012; The Argus, 2011).
Talha was lifted from the water, not breathing, and Mr Carter began CPR. Paramedics received a call to attend the school at around 20:00 and were on scene 6-7 minutes later. Talha was taken to Eastbourne District General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival (Asian Image, 2012; The Argus, 2011).
Sussex Police and the Health and Safety Executive are preparing a report for the Coroner’s inquest, which will occur in May 2012. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said its inspectors would be investigating whether the school had breached any safety laws (The Argus, 2011).
In a statement, school director Mr Malcolm Payton said (ITV News, 2012):
Our thoughts at Newlands School are with the family of Talha Baber, who died so tragically as a result of an accident in the swimming pool at our school on 1 July 2011, despite the efforts of the lifeguard and paramedics to save him. On behalf of the school, we send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
The management and staff at Newlands School were deeply shocked by this incident, the likes of which has never happened before at our school. Since the accident, the school has provided all assistance it can to the coroner's office, the police and the HSE for their investigations.
Newlands headteacher, Ms Mandy Johannson, added (The Argus, 2011):
This was a tragic accident. Everyone is very calm, and everybody has been coping well so far. I am now trying to minimise the impact on the other children and the community.
Conservative councillor, Mr Ian White, who represents the Seaford West Ward on Lewes District Council, was at the school for the arts festival on the day of the accident. He said (The Argus, 2011):
My thoughts and those of others are with Muhammad's parents and grandparents.
Everybody is always upset and saddened by an accident like this. It is not something one would wish on one's worst enemy. It is an awful thing to happen and it does have an effect on people.
Coroner’s Inquest (2012) (Unreported, 4th May, Eastbourne Magistrates’ Court)
The inquest into Talha’s death was heard on Friday, 4 May 2012, at Eastbourne Magistrate’s Court by East Sussex Coroner Alan Craze.
Newlands School Facility Manager, Mr Carter, told the inquest (Asian Image, 2012):
The swimming session had been an impromptu session. I am a qualified lifeguard, but I have only lifeguarded a session at the Newlands pool once before. I was only asked to lifeguard the 20:00 session at 19:30 that same night. I have never read the pool operating procedures manual.
I was confident that my qualifications would stand me in good stead at the pool. I thought others would have made the checks of a register of the boys at the pool and their swimming abilities
I didn’t take a register as the boys entered the pool and I was not told about their swimming abilities, or that Talha could not swim.
I had to have words with two boys who were holding their breath underwater and another who was walking too fast along the side of the pool.
I was looking across to the other side of the pool when I noticed Talha half-submerged in the water. For about four or five seconds, I thought the boy was messing around and so I prodded him with a lifeguard rescue pole which I was carrying.
When Talha failed to move, two of the boys that were with Talha lifted him up and I could see he was in trouble. I pulled him out. He was quite a light boy, so I lifted him out onto the poolside. He wasn’t breathing so I started resuscitation.
The boys appeared quite calm when we found Talha in the water; there was no hysteria or panic.
Some told the inquest of the boys in the pool that the lifeguard had been slow to react to the situation, but Mr Carter said, “this is untrue. I took my job very seriously” (Asian Image, 2012).
Detective Inspector Martin Sapwell, who led the investigation for Sussex Police, told the inquest he had found no evidence of criminal liability in relation to Talha's death. Mr Graham Goodenough from the HSE said there was unlikely to be any further action in relation to the incident on their part once the inquest was over. The inquest was told that the post-mortem concluded that Talha had died from drowning (Asian Image, 2012).
Mr Hassan Rabbeni, representing Talha's family, and Sobia Ishaque, Talha's aunt, said they were disappointed with the outcome of the inquest, which had left them with more questions than answers. Mr Rabbeni said (Asian Image, 2012):
If the rules do not exist to safeguard a child's life at a school where people are sending their children to stay 24/7 when they could not safeguard a guest, how are those children getting treated?
I believe there had been a miscommunication between all the different parties involved in the trip and I will be talking to Talha's parents to decide whether they would be taking any civil action.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Alan Craze said (Asian Image, 2012):
At the end of the day, this is a dreadful tragedy for all of the family of this little boy.
I am a parent myself. I have children of 15 and 10 years and I ask myself how I would have reacted if this had happened to me, and the answer is I just do not know.
In a statement, school director Malcolm Payton said (ITV News, 2012):
We note and accept the findings of the coroner that this was an accidental death.
It would not be appropriate for us to comment further on today’s inquest, save to reiterate once again that our thoughts and prayers are with Talha's family and friends.
References (4)
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.
Asian Image. (2012). Parents of schoolboy disappointed at inquest ruling. (4th May, 00:00). Available at: https://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/9689585.parents-of-schoolboy-disappointed-at-inquest-ruling/ accessed 21st December 2020.
HSE. (2013). FOI request. 2011-12 names and details of fatalities. (9th October, 00:00). Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/fatalities/2011-12.htm accessed 21st December 2020.
ITV News. (2012). Boy drowned in school pool. (3rd May, 18:42). Available at: https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2012-05-03/boy-drowned-in-school-pool accessed 21st December 2020.
The Argus. (2011). Boy, 12, drowned in school swimming pool. (6th July, 00:00). Available at: https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9122211.boy-12-drowned-in-school-swimming-pool/ accessed 21st December 2020.
Citation: Jacklin, D. 2020. Case Summary: Muhammad Talha Baber. Water Incident Research Hub, 27 December.
