THE IRISH embassy in Madrid has offered its assistance to the family of a Dublin child who remains in a critical condition in hospital in Majorca after a near-drowning incident in a hotel swimming pool at the weekend.
Jake Howe (4), from Tallaght, was pulled from the pool at the Hotel Ola Club Cala Lleyna in the San Carlos resort of Ibiza on Saturday evening by a lifeguard.
It is unclear how long he had been in the water and, following attempts to resuscitate him, Jake was initially taken to Ibiza's main Can Misses hospital but was later transferred to the Son Dureta hospital in Palma on the neighbouring island, Majorca.
A CAT scan is said to have indicated no brain damage though he remained on an artificial ventilator last night. Jake is a triplet, and his brothers Josh and Jamie were due to return to Dublin yesterday to stay with relatives until their parents returned.
An investigation is under way by the Civil Guard police into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday assistance had been offered to the family through the embassy in Madrid as well as through the honorary consul in Majorca, though the offer had not been taken up.
In July a six year-old boy from Northern Ireland drowned while on a family holiday in Portugal. Nathan Sharkey, from Claudy in Co Derry, was on holiday with his parents on the Algarve.
