Boy drowns in wave pool attraction

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. —  A 4-year-old boy drowned Thursday in a wave pool at the Paramount Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, authorities said.

The boy was unconscious when park lifeguards pulled him from a 2-foot-deep section of the Great Barrier Reef, said Bill Lentz, Great America’s general manager. The 355,000-gallon attraction simulates the sensation of ocean waves.

Lentz said the park provides life vests and inner tubes to use in the wave pool, which does not have age or size restrictions. Lentz said he did not know if the boy knew how to swim or if he was being supervised at the time of the accident, which occurred just before 2:30 p.m.

The lifeguards and Great America emergency workers administered CPR until Santa Clara County paramedics arrived, he said.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara, where he was pronounced dead after additional attempts to resuscitate him failed, said Dave Parker, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

The wave pool and several adjacent sections of Great America’s 13-acre Boomerang Bay water park were cleared and closed so Santa Clara police and park security officers could investigate the incident, Lentz said.