A father and grandfather drowned after trying to rescue a toddler who had fallen into a hotel pool on the Gold Coast.
Dharmvir Singh, 38, and Gurjinder Singh, 65, lost consciousness after jumping into the rooftop pool of Top of the Mark Holiday Apartments in Surfers Paradise just before 7pm on Sunday.
They were pulled from the water by bystanders who performed CPR until emergency services arrived. However, the couple suffered cardiac arrest and tragically could not be saved.
A two-year-old girl was playing by the pool when she slipped off a step and fell.
The girl’s mother, who did not know how to swim, jumped in after her daughter, prompting Dharmvir and Gurjinder to enter the water fully clothed in an attempt to help.
A father and grandfather died after jumping into a Gold Coast hotel pool to rescue a toddler who had fallen.
Dharmvir Singh and Gurjinder Singh were discovered unconscious in the rooftop pool of Top of the Mark Holiday Apartments in Surfers Paradise just before 7pm on Sunday.
The two men got into trouble while in the water and drowned.
The girl was rescued unharmed while her mother was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
It is understood the family was visiting the Gold Coast from Victoria.
“It’s an extremely emotional scene,” Queensland Ambulance Service’s Mitchell Ware said of the tragedy.
“Obviously, anyone could understand that, not just losing one family member, but losing two family members.”
The pool is at the top of the apartment block, several stories above the street, and was being used by other families at the time of the tragedy.
Ware said tragic incidents like Sunday morning’s double death affected the entire community.
Dharmvir Singh (pictured) jumped into the pool to save his daughter along with his father, Gurjinder Singh.
The pool is at the top of the apartment block, several floors above the street.
“These incidents can have lasting effects not only for the family members involved, but also for the people who were at the scene,” he said.
Ware said it was unclear whether flotation devices were available at the pool, adding that the depth of the water did not make much of a difference for those who are not strong swimmers.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Australia has been rocked by a series of drownings in recent months, with more than 90 people killed between December 1 and February 29 this year.
Last month, a 13-year-old girl was orphaned after her parents Leslie, 49, and Jon Ballo, 50, drowned while crabbing in Western Australia.
The couple, both Filipinos, were recovered by police from the water near the Herron Point boat ramp in Birchmont.
In early March, an international student was pulled from a waterfall in Queensland after going missing.
The 20-year-old disappeared on March 10 at around 3pm after jumping from a ledge into the water at Crystal Cascades, west of Cairns, and failing to surface.
Leslie, 49, and Jon Ballo, 50, a Filipino couple who arrived in Perth nine years ago, died while crabbing last month.
Emergency services launched a search and rescue operation to find the young man.
Brisbane Police divers assisted in the search and located the young man’s body at around 6pm the next day.
It is understood the tourist was swept downstream after swimming at the top of a series of waterfalls, an area marked as a no-swimming zone.