Brit girl, 11, died after being found unresponsive in Spain hotel pool

Tragic Francesca Mae Blease was discovered lifeless on the swimming pool while on a family holiday in Fuerteventura, Spain, as an inquest into the girl’s death opens

An 11-year-old girl has died after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool on holiday^[1] in Spain.

Francesca Mae Blease was found in a hotel pool in Fuerteventura, a coroner’s court^[2] has heard. The young girl, from Crewe, Cheshire, was discovered in the swimming pool on the island on August 7, an inquest which opened on Wednesday was told.

Coroner’s officer Paul Downey said Francesca was taken to a hospital in Gran Canaria and died on August 8, when her life support machine was switched off. Coroner Victoria Davies said given there was an unnatural cause of death, it was appropriate for her to formally open an inquest, which will be held on January 27.

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It comes after a five-year-old British girl, found unconscious in a swimming pool during a family holiday, tragically passed away. The youngster was rushed to the Maternal and Child University Hospital of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, but the child suffered ‘irreversible brain death’ following her submersion in the pool. She has not yet been named.

Last month, two tragic British children died while on a family holiday^[5] in Spain. Siblings Ameiya, 13, and her 11-year-old brother, Ricardo Junior, from Birmingham, tragically drowned at sea^[6] during a trip in Salou. They went into the sea on their visit to Llarga beach, near Tarragona before getting into trouble.

The brother and sister, described by loved ones as “beautiful” and “bright”, were given treatment following the “incident at sea” but sadly did not survive. Kayla Jasvinder Del-Brocco, the aunt of the children, said her niece and nephew were carried away from the shore by fierce currents. “They went out to swim together with their dad as they loved the beach,” she said.

A British pilot last week drowned off a beach in Benidorm after going for a late night dip with friends. Robbie Conington, 30, was named as the tourist who died after he got into difficulties when he took a dip in the sea^[7] with two friends late last Friday. Today he was described as a “spark that ignited every room he entered” by his bosses.

Another friend described him as an “incredible aviator, great friend and all-round great guy.” Details of the tragedy first emerged over the weekend when Spanish police^[8] confirmed a British tourist’s body had been recovered after he went into the sea with the two pals who returned to Benidorm’s Levante Beach unharmed.

The alarm was raised around 8.30pm last Friday by witnesses who said they had seen one of the three men being carried out in the choppy waters and coastguards were called in to search for the missing man before his body was found later the same night near Benidorm’s Sailing Club. Robbie, from Biggin Hill, Kent, said on an online profile he had clocked up more than 1,300 total flying time but also worked in aircraft sales.