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An 8-year-old girl swimming with her family in a US hotel pool died after she was sucked into a pipe only 40cm wide.
Aliyah Jaico was swimming with family at the DoubleTree by Hilton in the Texas city of Houston on Saturday night and was reportedmissing at 6 o’clock, ABC13 reported.
Several agencies joined the search, including non-profit group EquuSearch.
EqueSearch founder Tim Miller said his team were searching rooms in the hotel before they reviewed security video from the pool that revealed the little girl had gone under water and not come back up.
They then began to drain the pool and attached cameras to long poles to check the pipes.
It was 6m into a pipe measuring only 40cm across that they made a heartbreaking discovery.
“We put them poles in there almost 20ft, and we saw her little hand and part of her body, so we got the fire department back out there,” Miller told ABC13.
“She was wedged in there so very, very tight ... Many of us had to wipe tears from our eyes,” Miller said.
Aliyah, seen here at another pool, was swimming with family when she went missing.
Officials said a new pipe to the pool appeared to have malfunctioned and was sucking water in when it should have been pushing it out.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science said it found Aliyah’s preliminary cause of death was “drowning and mechanical asphyxia” and appeared to be accidental.
Aliyah's mother shared their final photo together.
‘I will love you for all eternity’
Aliyah’s mother, Daniela Jaico, paid tribute to her daughter online, sharing their last photo together, believed to have been taken the night she died.
“They say we all have our destiny marked ... but I can’t understand why yours was like this,” Jaico wrote in Spanish.
“‘Thank you, my love, for the eight years you gave me by your side. Thank you, my girl, for teaching me what love is and a noble heart.
“I hope to see you again one day and you’ll keep looking at me and you’ll get that big smile that was contagious with joy.”
Aliyah's heartbroken mother paid tribute to her daughter online.
Alongside a series of photos of Aliyah, her heartbroken mother wrote: “You gave yourself to love always with your heart so noble. I will love you for all eternity.
“You are the most beautiful thing God has given me and after every battle we went through together, we didn’t win this one.”
ABC13 said the Houston Health Department’s report on the pool identified “multiple violations”.
