Three members of a British family have died while on holiday at a Spanish resort on Christmas Eve.
A nine-year-old girl, 16-year-old boy, and a 52-year-old man are all thought to have died in the incident at a Costa del Sol holiday resort on Tuesday afternoon.
The tragedy occured after the nine-year-old girl got into difficulty in the hotel's swimming pool, MirrorOnline reports .
Her older brother and their father jumped into the water after her, it is understood.
Police divers were inspecting the pool this afternoon including the swimming pool pump amid unconfirmed reports it may have played a part in the little girl’s death.
The incident happened around 1.30pm on Tuesday at Club La Costa World, a sprawling holiday resort overlooking the Med - a short drive from Fuengirola.
Sources told MirrorOnline the girl and her father were British but said the older boy, a 16-year-old, was travelling on an American passport.
There was no immediate official comment from resort chiefs about the Christmas Eve tragedy.
One source told MirrorOnline: “The girl’s brother and then the father jumped into the water when they saw she was in difficulties.
“All three have died.
“An investigation is ongoing so it is too early to say what has happened but specialist Civil Guard divers were mobilised after the gravity of what had occurred became apparent and one of the things they have looked at is the pool pump.”
The resort where today’s three deaths occurred is the same one where a nine-year-old British girl died in February after suffering a severe allergic reaction to an ice-cream.
Habiba Chishti, from Halifax, was staying with her family at the resort and went into anaphylactic shock there although she had eaten her treat at a nearby shopping centre.
An inquest held at Halifax Town Hall in May heard she was allergic to eggs and nuts with local reports at the time saying it was believed it was the sauce on the ice-cream that contained the ingredients that killed her.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been approached for comment.
Club La Costa has also been asked for comment.
