A SIX-year-old Radcliffe boy was left with catastrophic brain damage after he nearly drowned in a hotel swimming pool during a family holiday in Majorca.

Kevin Roberts was playing in the pool with his older brother, when he slipped under the water and was eventually rescued by a German tourist.

His desperate parents realised he was missing and minutes later -- after a frantic search -- his father found him in a hotel corridor where he had been put by staff. He was not breathing and his heart had stopped.

A doctor gave him an injection of adrenaline to revive him but, as a result of the tragedy, Kevin brain was damaged, and is now wheelchair bound, cannot speak, and needs 24-hour-a day care.

At the High Court in Manchester, lawyers for Kevin, now aged 14, of Calf Hey Road, Radcliffe, launched a damages claim against the holiday company Sunworld. Sunworld have brought Kevin's parents, Ray and Julie, into the action as defendants, claiming they must share the blame for the tragedy in July, 1993.

Mr Giles Wingate-Saul QC, for Kevin, said he was not attaching any blame to Mr and Mrs Roberts following the accident at the Hotel Jupiter complex in Alcudia. The family had booked the holiday with Sunworld, who advertised the complex as having "superb amenities for young children".

"But within 24 hours of the serious incident the hotel was persuading a number of their staff to give a false statement about the accident, in order to cover up their serious failure," said Mr Wingate-Saul.

He told Mr Justice Gibb, the Roberts family -- mum and dad, Kevin, his brothers, Paul, aged nine, and 22-month-old John, had flown to Majorca just hours before the accident.

The family had been sitting at the shallow area of the Reina Beach pool at the three-hotel complex, but Mr Roberts then took Kevin and Paul to the water so they could play.

Mr Roberts then went back to his wife and youngest son, but said Mr Wingate-Saul, the couple did not know there was a serious underwater hazard.

The pool was busy, and after a few minutes the parents went back to look for the children but could not see Kevin, who could not swim. Both parents searched the pool before being told by other holidaymakers that a boy had been taken from the pool and carried into the hotel.

"What appears to have happened is that the hotel had no lifeguard on duty, no one available or capable of applying artificial respiration, and no resuscitation equipment," said Mr Wingate-Saul.

Kevin had been rescued by a German girl who had carried him into the hotel.

Mr Wingate-Saul said there were no barriers between the shallow and deep ends of the pool, and there were no depth markings. In addition there were no signs warning non-swimmers of the danger and no lifeguards watching the pool, particularly at the point where the depth became hazardous.

Sunworld, he claimed, were also liable because they failed to give holidaymakers warnings about the pool's lay-out.

Mr Adrian Brunner QC, for Sunworld, told the court that at a welcome meeting Mr Roberts would have been given advice about the pool.

Mr Brunner added: "Parents can take their eyes off children. But parents have a continuing responsibility for them. He was not wearing armbands and so we say it raises certain questions with regard to the parents."

Richard Morton, counsel for the parents, said they expected the amenities at the hotel to be safe, and they were given no warnings about the dangers.

The case is expected to last more than three weeks.