Community reacts after 6-year-old boy drowns in Saint-Leonard pool

People in Saint-Leonard are grieving today after a six-year-old boy drowned in the pool of an apartment complex on Monday.

Neighbours told CBC News that the child and his family had arrived in Canada within the last few months.

Paramedics were called tothepool on Avila Street around7:10 p.m. Monday.

They tried to resuscitate the childbefore he was transported to hospital in critical condition.

The child'smother and a lifeguard who wason duty at the time of the incident were also taken to hospital and treated for shock.

'It was so sad,' residents say

Zouhaier Zid, a resident of the apartment complex, said he saw CPR being performed on the child near the pool.

"It was so sad," he told CBCNews.

Zid said he had planned on swimming yesterday, but decided not to because he thought too many people were swimming. About 30 people were in the pool yesterday, he said.

He said he thinkshaving one lifeguard on duty wasn't enough.

"It's impossible.It was too many people," Zid said.

Pool met safety requirements, says pool safety

However, Raynald Hawkins of the Quebec Lifesaving Society saidhaving one lifeguard on duty at a pool of that size satisfies theminimum safety requirements set by the province's building inspection board.

The lifeguard did not have an elevated platform, but that's also not required, Hawkins said.

Police are investigatingwhat happened.

There have been 17 drownings in Quebec since the beginning of the summer season.