The family of the eight-year-old girl who sadly died after being pulled into a pool pipe at a hotel in Houston says the child was "violently sucked" into an uncovered pipe and suffered an "absolutely horrific" death.
They allege negligence on the part of Hilton Hotels, where the accident happened. A lawyer for the family claims the tragedy could have been avoided entirely. "We are seeking justice for Aliyah because this could have been avoidable," the family's attorney, Richard Nava, said on Tuesday. "Everybody knows this could have been avoidable."
Aliyah Jaico was swimming at a pool with her family when she suddenly disappeared from the water. The family raised the alarm immediately but her little body wasn't found until 7am the next day when staff began looking inside the pool's pipe.
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Her body was found about 20 feet inside the pipe, which was said to be 16 inches wide. It took teams about 13 hours to recover the body.
The family's attorney said Aliyah was "violently sucked" into the hole, adding: "Her poor little body was contoured when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back.
"Her body was inside of the motor when she had to be extracted. They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe. It was absolutely horrific."
Aliyah died of "drowning and mechanical asphyxia" in what appeared to be an accident, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science. However, multiple violations were said to have been found at the pool and local media describe the pipe as malfunctioning.
She was playing in the lazy river at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel when she went under the water on Saturday at about 6pm and didn't come back up.
Initial reports suggest that the piping was either faulty or incorrectly programmed, causing it to malfunction and suck in water from a tube that should have been expelling it, filtered and clean. Local station KXII has reported that this isn't the first time the facility has faced violations and failed inspections.
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The Houston Health Department conducted an inspection on Monday and said: "Main drain document was provided and still valid. However small pool has 32-inch channel drains on the walls, without a valid document stating their function, date of installation and date of expiration. A full inspection was conducted, multiple violations were observed. Video footage is available, however manager stated that the footage is being reviewed by legal, and we would have to wait to receive a copy."
"[It] appears right now the pump was put in there, and it was probably malfunctioning because the open pipe that she ended up in was supposed to be pushing water out," said Tim Miller from Texas EquuSearch, whose team was among those who helped look for the little girl.
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