A HORRIFIED woman is calling for a pool to be shut down after a five-year-old girl had to be ‘brought back to life’ after she got into difficulty during a swimming lesson.

Natalie Louise said she witnessed Lexi Jackson’s body ‘convulsing and jerking under the water’ while parents screamed for someone to ‘get her out’.

The mother of two said she had been watching her six-year-old daughter’s swimming lesson at Hyndburn Leisure Centre on Thursday when she heard the screams of parents watching from the public gallery.

She said: “I was sat upstairs with my son when I heard horrific screaming from the balcony.

“I saw people leaning over the upstairs viewing balcony shouting to lifeguards and teacher to get her out, get her out.

“I looked down at the pool and one of the children was convulsing under the water, all her body jerking and the staff were doing nothing.

“The lifeguards and teacher were just stood talking.

“There was a child in the swimming lesson who was drowning while they were stood there.

“The girl’s mum was screaming and then the teacher noticed and got in the pool and started to get her out.

“It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever watched.”

Ms Louise said Lexi was eventually pulled, unresponsive, from the swimming pool where another parent, who was a nurse, performed CPR.

She said: “When I got to poolside the little girl was at the edge of the pool being resuscitated, she was completely still.

“She was having chest compressions performed but she wasn’t responsive for quite a while.

“I thought the little girl was dead. Paramedics came and she was rushed to hospital, it was like a nightmare, the poor girl.”

Jayde Clitheroe, who had been watching her nephew’s swimming lesson, said the incident was like ‘something from a horror movie’.

She said: “I just heard loads of screaming and shouting.

“I looked across the balcony and parents were screaming down to the staff that the little girl was drowning.

“The parents ran down and I was in utter shock, shaking with sick in my mouth and tears in my eyes

“It was horrendous. Alarms were going off, parents were screaming and crying, parents running to get their children out of the water, everybody was distraught, it was horrific for anybody to watch.

“As they pulled the little girl out she was lifeless.

“Staff just looked at each other and laid her on the side of the pool.”

A leisure centre spokesman said staff attended to the girl and paramedics were called.

Five-year-old girl taken to hospital after 'getting into difficulty' at a Hyndburn Leisure Centre swimming pool

Lyndsey Sims, chief executive of Hyndburn Leisure said: “The team on site are carrying out a full and thorough investigation into the incident and we have reported it to the Health and Safety Executive.

“We have also made a statement to the police.

“Our thoughts are with the young girl and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery.

“We will do everything we can to support all those affected and we would like to reassure our customers that we are investigating the incident fully.”

Ms Louise said she would not be returning to the pool following the incident.

She said:”I was so upset and my little girl was, i can’t stop thinking of the little girl and if she’s ok.

“I will never ever go there again.

“It wasn’t lifeguards who even helped the girl, it was a nurse who happened to be at the pool who saved that girls life.

“The pool shouldn’t be allowed to be open in my opinion.”

Ms Clitheroe said her nephew will not be continuing his swimming lessons at the leisure centre.

She said: “He won’t be going back, his mum is swapping places.

“They are meant to be trained staff, holding all the trust and responsibilities and not one of them new what was going on or attempted CPR to save the little girl.

“That woman who saved her life is a true hero

“She brought her back to life and stayed with her in the recovery position until the ambulance got there.

“Plenty of people seen it happen the girl lost her life and came back.

“It’s a very good job she was there or I wouldn’t like to think what would have happened.”