Heroic father dies trying to save daughter in electrified swimming pool

On Easter Sunday a 43-year-old Californian father died while trying to save his nine-year-old daughter from a Palm Springs swimming pool in which the water had become electrified.

Three other children and the girl's mother were in the pool but since they were further away from the source of the current - believed to be faulty wiring in an underwater light - their injuries were less severe and were treated at the scene.

The person who called emergency services was reported as saying people were turning blue after jumping into the pool, and swimmers told police they experienced a tingling feeling while in the water, leading investigators to suspect faulty wiring in a pool light as the cause.

Jim Tramel, an executive with Silicon Valley firm RevJet, was at his holiday house with his family in Palm Springs when he saw his daughter sink to the bottom of the pool and turn blue. He instinctively jumped in to save her but lost consciousness as soon as he hit the water. He and his daughter were pulled out of the water by others at the gathering, but he died from the electrical shock shortly afterwards. His daughter remains in critical condition while another girl is in a stable condition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the probable cause the death was faulty light wiring. According to a preliminary investigation into the incident, a light fixture in the pool was missing screws and may have had some kind of power surge, electrifying the water, Police Sergeant William Hutchinson told the Times.

Tramel lost consciousness as soon as he entered the water and died later at a hospital, authorities said. His younger daughter remains in critical condition, while the 10-year-old girl remains in stable condition.

“It’s just all over tragic,” Hutchinson said. “It was just a sad experience for everybody.”

Hutchinson said that that if a person suspects that a pool has become electrified, they should shut off the electrical circuit breaker to the pool's lighting and pump systems.

The incident remains under investigation.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family.

SPLASH! offers condolences to the family.