The death of an Australian baby in Bali this month has sparked urgent warnings about the “significant risk” facing families in countries with lax attitudes to water safety. Khyden James died after drowning in an unfenced pool at Villa Besar on October 19. His parents Brendan Sharp and Grace Williams booked a stay in a luxury Kerobokan villa for a “holiday of a lifetime” with several adults and children when the unthinkable happened.
A woman reportedly told hotel staff to call an ambulance at about 7.15pm on October 19, a Bali police spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph. Royal Life Saving CEO Justin Scarr told Daily Mail Australia that the horrible tragedy showed the “vulnerabilities” of children particularly when they stay at these luxurious holiday villas.
He actively encouraged parents to “reconsider staying in a villa if they have very young children”. “When parents of one-to-two-year-olds book one of these holiday villas, they really need to understand there’s a significant risk of their child of drowning,” Mr Scarr said. Pool fences are a legal requirement in Australia, but not so in other countries, including Indonesia.
Often, though, fences can be rented. Australian parents, Mr Scarr said, were “very privileged and lucky” to live in a country with such “robust pool fencing regulations” that protect our children from water accidents. “The drowning rate of Australian Children has reduced substantially in the last 30 years since those laws.