'She was left to drown': Heartbroken father of girl, 11, who drowned at Liquid Leisure hits out at response

23 August 2022, 13:20

A grieving father whose 11 year old girl died at Liquid Leisure near Windsor believes she could have been saved if "staff had acted sooner".

Kyra Hill drowned after getting into trouble in the water just days before her 12th birthday at the Berkshire water park while going to a party there.

Her father, Leonard, said the tragedy has "ripped my family to pieces" and said: "I am 100% sure Kyra could have been saved if Liquid Leisure and the staff had acted sooner and more urgently."

He told Sky News the two had an "unbreakable bond" and were "besties".

But the father-of-three was sharply critical of staff at the waterpark, saying his daughter was not wearing inflatables because she was in an area described as "shallow water", and that she was found in the area she went missing.

He said: "Almost a carefree attitude shown towards her. I would say she was left to drown.

"Because there is no way she can have gone down in that same body of water and it's taken you over 30 minutes to contact the emergency services."

He added: "They've ripped one of my closest people in life away from me because they haven't acted in urgency. They hadn't sounded the alarm with urgency, they didn't call the emergency services in a fast enough time."

"She had a chance. But lack of urgency, lack of interest, lack of action, is the reason why my daughter is no longer here today."

Kyra was described as a football fan who wanted to play for Manchester United's women's team.

Read more: 'Complete shambles': Witnesses describe search for girl, 11, who died at Windsor water park

Mr Hill said her three-year-old brother is largely unaware of what happened but misses her, while her older sister, 14, is distraught.

Liquid Leisure said it was "heartbroken by the tragic incident" and "our thoughts remain with the family and those affected".

It said: "We have been working closely with the various authorities to assist the ongoing investigation. As a result, we are limited in what we can say about the incident itself at this stage."

But it has pointed to its record of "operating for over 20 years" and that it has "welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors during that time".

The firm has been told to show how it has reduced the risk of drowning before continuing to run.

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our visitors," the company said.