Five children have died in Italian swimming pools in the past three months, Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said, as he vowed to push through new pool safety legislation within weeks.
Italy will move to strengthen safety rules at public and private swimming pools. This follows the death of an 11-year-old girl after being sucked into a drain at a beach-club pool on the Ligurian Riviera, Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said on Friday.
“The death of Alice, the 11-year-old girl sucked into the drain of a swimming pool in Sestri Levante, highlights the urgent need to make public and private swimming pools in Italy safe, without any ifs or buts,” Musumeci said.
A pattern of deaths in recent months
The minister said the tragedy in Sestri Levante was not an isolated case. “In the last three months, five minors have died in swimming pools,” he said. He described the toll as evidence of a problem that could no longer be treated as one-off accidents.
Musumeci called for a two-pronged response: stricter regulation of pool facilities themselves, alongside greater vigilance from parents and carers. “Strict discipline is needed, but also greater caution is needed in not leaving children alone in the water,” he said.
Pool safety legislation moving through committee within the month
Musumeci said the Meloni government’s bill addressing pool safety would be approved by the relevant parliamentary committee within the month. Furthermore, he pledged to push for it to be scheduled as a matter of urgency. “We will do everything possible to schedule it urgently,” he said.
The minister signed the bill jointly with Health Minister Orazio Schillaci. It reflects concern within government that existing safety standards at Italy’s pools, many of them decades old, have failed to keep pace with the risks that led to Alice’s death.
