THE death of a five-year-old boy at a holiday park near Newquay was an accident, an inquest jury has ruled.

Robin Caliskan, from Plymouth, drowned in an indoor swimming pool at the Atlantic Reach Holiday Park on July 31 in 2023 after becoming separated from his parents.

The young boy was discovered floating lifeless in the pool by a guest and attempts to revive him at the poolside were unsuccessful.

The jury at the inquest held in Truro stated that Robin was unsupervised for a "brief period" after "a miscommunication" between his parents, who each believed their child was safe with the other.

Robin’s father Caliskan had told the inquest that he thought his son was with his mother in the larger pool, while he was in the baby pool with his other child.

Frosted glass separating the baby pool from the main pool "misled each parent to believe the deceased was safe with the other parent.”

Anne Marie Jameson, a health and safety enforcement officer at Cornwall Council, told the inquest that the park did comply with minimum safety standards but she believed "there is the risk of future deaths.”

She stated no lifeguards were employed at the swimming pool and there was no legal obligation to do so.

There were signs around the pool stating no lifeguards were on duty, and the park had a policy that at least one adult had to be with two children aged under eight.

The inquest heard there had been a near miss previously when an elderly man suffered a medical episode while using the swimming pool.

Andrew Cox, the senior coroner for Cornwall, said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to Atlantic Reach because of his "ongoing concerns.”

Atlantic Reach Holiday Park has installed CCTV cameras at the pool since the death of Robin.

The family's solicitor Paul White read a statement on their behalf following the hearing, which said: "Our child, Robin Van Caliskan, was full of life, with dreams and a future ahead of him. Now, that future has been taken from him because of the conscious and deliberate decision not to provide even the most basic level of safety and supervision.

"There was no lifeguard, and when a frosted screen misled us to believing he was safe there was no-one there to protect our child when he needed it most.

"The organisation had ignored a previous recommendation for pool supervision from the Council following the incident in 2020, and even after this tragedy there is still no provision for a lifeguard.

"Our child’s life mattered, and his death must be the catalyst for changes. We welcome the Coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths report.

"We hope no more Robins will be lost."