Six-year-old girl drowns in Balaguer sports complex pool, fourth Catalan pool death since June 15
A six-year-old girl died Tuesday evening in a swimming pool at the Barri del Secà sports complex in Balaguer, Lleida, marking the fourth drowning death in Catalan pools since the bathing season began on 15 June.
The incident
A six-year-old girl drowned on Tuesday, 7 July, in the pool of the Barri del Secà sports complex in Balaguer, in the province of Lleida. Emergency services received the call at 19:58 and dispatched three ambulances and a team of psychologists from the Medical Emergency System (SEM), but they were unable to save the child. The victim had first been attended by the complex's own lifeguards, whose efforts also proved unsuccessful.
Official response
The Paeria de Balaguer, the town council, expressed its condolences and declared a day of official mourning. Flags on municipal buildings will fly at half-mast, and all activities were suspended on Wednesday except for municipal summer camps, which were kept open because of their social function for families.
The most heartfelt condolences and all our warmth to the family, their loved ones and all those affected by this tragic loss.
The municipal pools remained open, a decision the council said was taken "considering the high temperatures and the heatwave affecting the territory", describing the facilities as an essential climate refuge. A minute of silence was scheduled for 18:00 at both municipal pools. The incident is under investigation by the competent authorities.
A deadly start to the season
The Catalan government noted that this is the fourth fatal drowning in the region's pools since the bathing campaign began on 15 June, and the first in the province of Lleida. Around twenty people have been injured in pool drownings in Catalonia over the same period, most of them children. The four deaths in less than a month already equal the total number of fatal pool drownings recorded during the entire 2025 bathing season.
Safety warnings
Civil Protection authorities reiterated the importance of taking extreme precautions at beaches, pools and inland waters during the summer. They advised that anyone witnessing a possible drowning should alert the relevant lifeguard service or call 112.
