A CORONER has ruled that a the death of a 15-year-old girl who drowned at the Cotswold Water Park while playing with her younger cousins in July 2010 was an accident.

The four-day inquest in Gloucester heard that Kajil Devi and her cousins were playing with an inflatable dinghy on one of the Water Park lakes. She could not swim but was confident in the water.

When the boat started to drift away with one of the youngsters on it, Kajil tried to reach the rope to pull it back but slipped into the water and disappeared.

The inquest heard that Kajil, who lived with her family in Middlesex, could not be resuscitated.

She had been missing for about 20 minutes, but there was confusion as to whether she was still in the water or had gone back onto the beach to go to the toilet.

She was found under the water by a swimmer but was pronounced dead in hospital the following day.

The inquest heard criticism of the lake’s management and organisation and that only two inexperienced lifeguards had been on duty at the beach at the time.

But assistant deputy Gloucester coroner Tom Osbourne said Kajil had probably just slipped under the water when she got out of her depth and even if more lifeguards had been on duty, it was unlikely that she would have been seen.

Yesterday, head of leisure safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Peter Cornall, told the inquest that under health and safety law, operators of such leisure centres were required to carry out proper risk assessments.

The inquest heard that the risk assessment at the park had been carried out by someone with no knowledge of how to do so.

The family was told at the time of the incident that if a person had gone under the water they would float, but Mr Cornall said that was not so in fresh water.

“She would only have been rescued if she had been prevented from going under the water,” he said. “Once an unobserved person has slipped under the surface it is very rare for even an experienced lifeguard to be able to revive them.”

Summing up, Mr Osbourne said Kajil and her two younger cousins could not swim and were not wearing buoyancy aids as they played with an inflatable boat in the water.

When their older cousin Akshay went to get something to eat, he told them to stay near the beach in shallow water until he got back but they started playing a game, pushing a nine-year-old out in the boat, and when he threw a rope, pulling him back in again.

“I think they got into deeper water and when Kajil slipped under, her cousin tried to grab her,” he said. “She then looked back towards the boat, and when she looked round, she thought Kajil had gone to the beach. It would not have occurred to a nine-year-old that she was still under the water.”

He said criticism of the park management, the allegation of insufficient lifeguards, that there was lack of leadership of the lifeguard team and that no proper risk assessment had been carried out made no difference to the outcome.

Speaking on behalf of Kajil’s family, her oldest brother Sumit, said maybe it was an accident, but if there had been more lifeguards it would have been more likely that she would have been spotted.

“There were only two inexperienced lifeguards managing about 200 people on the beach and in the water,” he said.

“Something was bound to happen and we may take out a private prosecution. But this has been very hard on my mum and dad and we will also have to consider them."

A spokesman for Cotswold District Council said: “This was a terrible tragedy and, as the Health and Safety regulating authority, Cotswold District Council has assisted the Coroner in this inquest.

“The council will now consider the issues and evidence that emerged at the inquest.

“Any enforcement action could only be considered once the Council’s current investigation has been completed and proper consideration given to the evidence as a whole.”