Talented teenage football player fights for life in hospital after ‘drowning’ in pool while on football tournament in Sweden
23 July 2024, 13:55 | Updated: 23 July 2024, 14:10
A talented teenage football player is fighting for his life in hospital after 'drowning' in a pool while in Sweden for a football tournament.
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The youngster from West London was named as Sajawal in a GoFundMe set up on behalf of the boy's family.
The 16-year-old was found unconscious at the bottom of a swimming pool near Gothenburg on Friday.
Sajawal was pulled from the water by players from a Swedish team that had spotted his body.
CPR was administered at the scene before the teen was airlifted from Nolhaga Parkbad in Allingsås to a hospital in Sahlgrenska in Gothenburg in a serious condition.
Money raised online will be used to help the young athlete's family with the costs of healthcare and repatriation.
Sajawal had been attending the world's largest youth football tournament called the Gothia Cup where around 2,000 teams from more than 80 nations compete.
Nearly 130 teams travelled from England to Sweden for this year's tournament.
Spokesperson for the tournament Malin Fahlén said staff were "extremely concerned and saddened" by events, adding: "Now we will try to focus all our resources to support and care in the best way."
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Police are investigating Friday's incident at the swimming pool, which was evacuated and shuttered for the weekend.
It is the second year running that a teenager has drowned in the pool during the tournament in Sweden.
Last year a child in their early teens was also found at the bottom of the pool and later died.
Niklas Ehnfors, head of communications at Allingsås council, said: "It is usually said that lightning does not strike twice in the same place, but in this case it feels like it has.
"But we are trying to focus on the situation that we have right now, then we will of course analyse to see what if any parallels there are to last year’s accident."
