Girl, 5, drowns in backyard pool in Spring Valley

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 9:14 a.m.

A neighbor said she had tried to warn the family at a southwest Las Vegas home where a 5-year-old girl drowned Thursday that they needed to keep the gate around the pool closed and locked.

But the gate behind the house in the 3500 block of El Camino Road apparently was left open Thursday afternoon. Ha Nul Suh found her way to the small in-ground pool while she was not being supervised and drowned, authorities said.

The girl's name, Ha Nul, means "sky" in Korean, a family friend, who did not want to be identified, said.

A 3 1/2-year-old boy who had been playing with the Ha Nul tried to pull her out of the pool with a stick, the friend said.

The friend said the girl's grandmother, who was inside the house, came out and jumped into the pool. She carried the dripping girl to the front yard, where a Metro Police patrol car was passing by.

Lt. Dave Braden said he began CPR until the county fire paramedics arrived, but none of them were able to revive the child. They worked for an hour to try to save her.

The child was pronounced dead about 6:15 p.m. at Spring Valley Hospital.

Metro's Abuse and Neglect Unit will investigate the drowning, a routine measure in such cases, Braden said. But, he said, it is not likely that charges will be filed.

Mercy Ambulance paramedic Pamela Saxon lives next door to the family, but was not home at the time of the incident. Saxon came home to find emergency vehicles surrounding the home.

Saxon said her 4-year-old daughter, Taylor, and Ha Nul often played together in the front yard. Saxon said she noticed the gate to the street was often open, but she had never seen the neighbor's children in the back yard alone.

Saxon said she warned the family that the gate needed to be kept closed and locked to prevent a drowning, but perhaps they didn't completely understand what she was trying to tell them because they are Korean and don't speak much English.

"It's the second drowning in that pool," Saxon said. The first was years ago, she said, but she couldn't remember the exact year.

Ha Nul's death was "heartbreaking," Saxon said. "I broke down and cried when I found out."

Saxon said that in her role as a paramedic she had responded to an 8-year-old girl who died in a pool in March. That child was dead when paramedics arrived, she said.

There were 10 drownings and 32 near drownings in Southern Nevada last year, according to the Clark County Health District. There had been two drownings in swimming pools in Clark County this year prior to Thursday's. In those cases, a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old girl died. There have also been 11 near drownings, health district officials said.

Saxon's advice to other parents: "Never let your guard down."

"All it takes is 30 seconds, and that's it," Saxon said. "We don't think it will, and it does."

She also urged pool owners to place two fences around all pools with locked gates.

"If you have children, don't even have a pool," Saxon said. "Nothing is going to stop a 4- or 5-year-old from climbing the fence."