‘European’ girl, ten, drowns in a hot tub in Dubai after her long hair gets caught in a filter 

A 10-year-old European girl drowned in a hot tub in Dubai after her hair became ‘entangled’ in a Jacuzzi filter and she got trapped underwater.

The young girl was found ‘motionless’ at the bottom of the one-metre deep hot tub in the Bur Dubai district ‘some time’ after she had asked her father’s permission to use the Jacuzzi, Gulf News reported.

Her father had rushed outside after ‘noticing her absence’ and found his daughter ‘pinned at the bottom’ of the hot tub, said Colonel Ahmad Humaid Al Marri, director of crime scene investigations at Dubai Police.

He said: ‘The young girl had asked for her father’s permission to use the hot tub, however, after some time her father noticed her absence and rushed to the tub to find his daughter motionless and pinned at the bottom of the Jacuzzi’.

Colonel Al Marri said a CSI team attended the girl’s home, and investigations found that her hair had become ‘entangled’ in a filter in the hot tub.

Further investigations revealed an engineering ‘flaw’ had caused the hot tub’s drains to produce strong ‘swirls’ which ‘affected the water’s flow dynamic and as a result sucked the hair easily’.

It was also discovered that the suction power across the hot tub’s filters was not equal. 

Dubai Police investigations (left) found that the girl’s hair had become ‘entangled’ in a filter (right) in the hot tub

Colonel Al Marri said children should ‘always be taught to stay away from drains’ as it’s easy for long hair and even limbs to become entangled in filters and drains.

‘Yes, it’s easy for long hair, as well as limbs, jewellery, or pieces of a bathing suit, to become entangled in a swimming pool filter or drain, which is why children should always be taught to stay away from drains,’ he said.

‘Children should always be supervised around water bodies especially swimming pools, hot tubs and open beaches ‘.