5-year-old sent to hospital after near drowning at Fun-Plex
Fun-Plex in Papillion closed for the day after a 5-year-old child was found unresponsive in the wave pool.
By Abbie Petersen
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OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Fun-Plex in Papillion closes for the day after a 5-year-old child was found unresponsive in the wave pool.
Police were called to the pool just before 3 p.m. on Sunday after the child was pulled out of the water.
That’s when CPR began. The child was taken to a local hospital with CPR still in progress.
The park will remain closed Monday after the incident.
People in swimming suits and cover ups came out of Fun-Plex in droves Sunday afternoon.
This, after a fun summer day takes a turn.
“It was shocking. Everybody, you know, crowded around, huddled, whispered, talking to everybody, talking to each other, trying to figure out what was going on — if everyone was OK,” said Izzy Fonfara Drewel.
Fonfara Drewell was one of the hundreds of people pouring out of the business.
She says what started as a day reading a book at the pool changed when she heard sirens in the parking lot. Then she looked around.
“They were doing CPR on someone. They did that for a while, and then they wheeled in a gurney and they picked up what looked like a small child and put him on the gurney, still doing CPR,” said Fonfara Drewell.
Fonfara Drewel says she saw the child put in an ambulance with an adult following behind.
Omaha police say CPR was started after a five-year-old was found unresponsive at the bottom of the wave pool.
The CPR continued on the way to the hospital.
“It was pretty shocking, especially because I’m here with my brother and sister, my cousins. They’re younger. My brother just turned seven. This kid probably was around that age, maybe. So it’s really scary,” said Fonfara Drewell.
Fun-Plex then announced it would be closing because of a “medical emergency” and it emptied out.
Omaha Police Lt. Candace Phillips says the waves in the wave pool can be extremely strong.
“It’s an incredibly sad situation. We have a lot of kids that use pools, and I’m not honestly sure exactly what happened there. I don’t know who was in the water with the party. I will say Fun-Plex, it’s a wave ocean. And to be really careful at Fun-Plex when those waves get turned on,” said Lt. Phillips.
Police say the kid was transferred from Bergan Mercy to Children’s Hospital.
Fonfara Drewel just really hopes they’ll be ok.
“Really sad. I hope they’re ok because you know, it’s just really upsetting,” said Fonfara Drewell.
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