Two lifeguards arrested after Chloe Johnson, five, drowns in Sharm el-Sheikh hotel swimming pool

• Emer Martin John Dunne
• Monday 20 May 2013 12:51 BST
• 

  Final picture: last family snap of Chloe Johnson before her death in Egypt Ray Collins
  Two lifeguards at a hotel swimming pool in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh have been arrested after a five-year-old girl drowned while on holiday, her parents said today.
  Chloe Johnson, from Forest Hill, south London, died on Friday at the Coral Sea Waterworld hotel on the first morning of the family’s “holiday of a lifetime”.
  Her father, Tony Johnson, took her lifeless body from the arms of a stranger who had pulled her from the water after he returned from buying drinks and ice cream.
  Mr Johnson, 43, said he had seen lifeguards around the pool but they were absent when the tragedy stuck.
  He said the arrests were connected to the lifeguards not being at their posts.
  “What we were told by a member of the British consulate at the scene is that two lifeguards have been arrested,” he said.
  “It doesn’t make me feel any better to hear this. They should have been there when she was struggling. Why was there a person just on holiday pulling her from the water? Why was it me who took her from his arms when she was already purple?”
  Mr Johnson said it was only a matter of “five to seven minutes” between when he last saw his daughter and when the man came running to him with her in his arms.
  He desperately attempted to resuscitate his daughter himself, but could not save her.
  He said he waited four hours for the emergency services to arrive and that was “simply to confirm she was dead”.
  He said: “There were no emergency services. I took her off the man who was coming out of the swimming pool - there was no staff around. There was a woman on holiday who said she was a nurse and a man who said he was a doctor.
  “I have done mouth to mouth before so I just tried to revive her. I tried, but there was a lot of water coming up, and I knew very quickly that she had already lost her life.”
  He said: “We are heartbroken, she was such a beautiful girl. She had been looking forward to the holiday for months. We just cannot believe she has gone.”
  Chloe was a pupil in the reception class at Kelvin Grove Primary School in Sydenham.
  Her death is being investigated by local police and tour operator First Choice.
  A spokesman for the holiday company said: “The incident occurred in a pool in the hotel’s waterpark. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family at this extremely difficult time.
  “The British Consulate were immediately informed and they are now working with our dedicated resort team in Egypt, to offer every assistance possible to the family in resort.
  “In partnership with the hotelier, our resort team are working to understand how the incident occurred, and we will be carrying out a full and thorough investigation. At this time our priority is to provide support to the family.”
  No one was available for comment from the British consulate in Sharm el-Sheikh.
  The Foreign Office refused to confirm that any arrests had been made stating that it was a matter for the local authorities.
  A spokesman said: “We are aware of the death of a British national in Sharm el-Sheikh on May 17. We are providing consular assistance.