Swim instructors prosecuted for 11 y.o. refugee's drowning

Two swimming instructors will be prosecuted for the drowning of an 11-year-old Adonay Berhe during a swimming lesson in Lemmer on February 6. They will be charged with "death by negligence committed in the exercise of their profession", the Volkskrant reports.

The boy, a refugee from Eritrea, was one of a group of pupils from primary school De Cocon in Balk, who went to swimming pool Ny Suderse in Lemmer for their first swimming lesson on February 6. Adonay was found at the bottom of the pool after the lesson.

The swimming instructors "did not notice that the boy went underwater and died," a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution service said to Leeuwarder Courant. "They are to blame for this mistake."

This fatal accident is similar to another incident in 2015, when a 9-year-old girl from Syria drowned during a swimming lesson in Rhenen. Three employees involved in this lesson were later sentenced to 60 hours of community service for involvement in the child's death.