Alice Ferrari, 11, dies after hair trapped in pool drain; Italy probes manslaughter and pushes safety bill

The incident

Alice Ferrari, 11, was spending the last afternoon of her holiday at Bagni Segesta, a beach club on the seafront of Sestri Levante, on Wednesday 15 July. She was in a small pool, about one metre deep and described as a hydromassage tub, when her long hair was sucked into the suction drain. Another child noticed she had not resurfaced and raised the alarm. The owner of the establishment jumped into the water with a knife, cut her hair free and pulled her out.

Rescue and hospitalisation

Emergency crews performed cardiac massage for 45 minutes and used a defibrillator at the scene. A helicopter ambulance then flew Alice to the Giannina Gaslini paediatric hospital in Genoa, a centre of excellence for paediatric care. She arrived in critical condition and was placed in intensive care. After two days of observation and clinical tests, the hospital declared her death during the night of 16-17 July.

The Health Directorate of the Giannina Gaslini Institute announces, with deep sorrow, the death of the 11-year-old girl who arrived in desperate conditions at the Genoese paediatric hospital after being held underwater in a pool. Death was declared during the night, at the end of the observation period and clinical assessments required by protocol. The parents, with great generosity, consented to organ donation.

Investigation and missing safety sign

The Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a manslaughter file against unknown persons. Prosecutor Fabrizio Givri ordered an autopsy, after which the organ harvesting already authorised by the family will take place. Coast Guard investigators, acting on the prosecutor's delegation, found that the facility lacked the mandatory sign requiring children under 12 to be accompanied by an adult, as stipulated by regional law. The pool has been placed under seizure while checks continue on the suction system and supervision measures.

Government response and pool safety bill

Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies Nello Musumeci, who co-signed the government's pool safety bill with Health Minister Orazio Schillaci, said the legislation would be approved by the relevant commission within the month and urgently scheduled for parliamentary debate.

The death of Alice, the 11-year-old girl sucked into the drain of a pool in Sestri Levante, underlines the need, no longer postponable, to make public and private pools in Italy safe, without ifs or buts. In the last three months there have been five deaths of minors in pools. We need strict rules but also greater caution in not leaving children alone in the water.

Pool death statistics in Italy

The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima) updated its tally after the Sestri Levante case: 75 people have died in Italian pools between 1 January 2022 and 16 July 2026. That averages 16 deaths per year, a decline from the 30 annual deaths recorded by the National Institute of Health for 2017-2021. The main cause is illness, accounting for about 44% of cases, but more than half of the victims are children under 12. Sima also notes that around 400 people drown each year in other waters (sea, lakes, rivers), while worldwide drowning deaths reached 2.5 million in the last decade.

To prevent accidents in Italian pools, a few simple rules must be followed. Minors must always be supervised by parents, who must never be distracted, even when children are not in the water and are near the pool. Choose only facilities with surveillance staff able to intervene promptly. Always check the depth of a pool.