A four-year-old girl has died after drowning during a swimming lesson at a private nursery in Turkey, where the pool was deemed too deep for children and no lifeguard was on duty. Berra Dizi was found floating motionless in the water at the nursery in the Suleymaniye neighbourhood of Inegol, Bursa Province, on 12 August.
Footage captured staff rushing to save the child as a swimming teacher pulled her from the pool. A nurse at the scene administered first aid before paramedics took her to a state hospital. She was later transferred to Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital but died in intensive care seven days later.
An investigation found that the pool, used for the nursery's summer activities, was 74 centimetres (29 inches) deep, despite safety rules limiting children's pools to 50 centimetres (19 inches). Investigators also said no certified lifeguard was on duty and that the swimming teacher was not in the pool with the children at the time of the incident.
A 12-page report commissioned by prosecutors determined that the nursery operator, E.B.O., was 'primarily at fault', and the swimming teacher, N.T., was 'secondarily at fault'. The report also listed Berra's parents as 'primarily at fault' for not providing her full medical history, a claim they described as deeply unfair. The school alleged Berra had suffered an epileptic fit in the pool, but her parents rejected this, stating she had been seizure-free for two years and had stopped medication on medical advice.
Berra's father, Ismail Dizi, criticised the expert panel, saying two of its members were mechanical engineers who had wrongly issued medical opinions instead of assessing safety failings. He said the nursery lacked proper permits and safety equipment and should never have been allowed to run a pool. Berra's mother, Moum Beyza Turan, said parents were told not to send their children with arm floats that day and believes her daughter would still be alive if safety rules had been followed. The nursery remains open despite the ongoing investigation.
