An 18-year-old former lifeguard at a municipal swimming pool in Fujimino, Saitama Prefecture, where a 7-year-old girl died Monday after being sucked into an intake pipe whose protective grille had come off, said her employer never briefed her on the workings of the circular pool or the danger of the intake.
The woman was hired to watch over visitors at the pool during the summer from 2003 to 2005 and said many of her colleagues were high school students like herself, hired as part-time lifeguards, and some were barely able to swim.
Kyomei Planning, a Saitama-based building maintenance company subcontracted to manage the city-run pool, did not consider swimming ability as a necessary qualification when hiring lifeguards, she said.
The woman said her job was to sit on a stoop by the pool to keep an eye on the swimmers.