A teenage girl tragically drowned after her swim team accidentally covered the pool with a heavy plastic tarp, unaware that she was still in the water.
Tragic reports reveal that 14-year-old Nabila Maazouz assisted her teammates in pulling the cover over her head after practice, but sadly, no one noticed she had not exited the outdoor pool.
Nabila’s lifeless body was discovered in the pool at the Hillsboro Shute Park Aquatic & Recreation Center.
After the tragic incident on November 20, 2019, Nabila’s family filed a $70 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city, the school district, and the manufacturer of the pool covers.
Nabila, a freshman at Oregon Episcopal School, had been practicing with her team on the fateful evening.
The team’s coach had instructed them to unroll the covers at the practice’s conclusion, a task that Nabila and some teammates undertook willingly.
They carried a cover to the deep end of the pool, swam back, and repeated the process with a second cover. Sadly, Nabila did not resurface after the second cover was in place.
Subsequently, the rest of the swim team left the pool, and the lights were turned off by the coach. It was only when Nabila’s mother, waiting in the parking lot, noticed everyone leaving that the alarm was raised.
After a 20-minute search, Nabila’s body was discovered entangled under the covers in the pool’s deep end.
According to reports, the lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Department and Hillsboro School District for permitting the use of pool covers, allowing swimmers to be under them, lack of supervision, inadequate staff training, absence of a lifeguard, and failure to notice Nabila’s absence.
“Nabila’s death was preventable, which makes it even more heartbreaking,” expressed Nabila’s mother, Patricia Maazouz.
“We hope that this lawsuit will lead to changes in the pool industry to prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
“We are living every parent’s nightmare. The accountable parties must be held responsible, and we do not want any other family to endure our pain.”
Our thoughts are with the grieving family of this young girl. Such a tragic and avoidable loss of life.
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