A six-year-old British boy was fighting for his life in a French hospital today after being found unconscious in a swimming pool aboard a cruise ship off the country's Atlantic coast.
"The child was found in a state of cardio-respiratory arrest at the bottom of the ship's pool," said Yann Bouvard, a spokesman for the maritime prefecture in the port of Brest.
French sea rescue services were alerted just before 2:00 pm and a medical team was dispatched by helicopter to the Independence of the Seas, a cruise ship belonging to the US company Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) which sails under the flag of the Bahamas.
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Two hours later, the child was transferred to the Morvan hospital in Brest where his condition was described as "grave".
The Independence of the Seas is a 338-metre vessel with four pools on board which is capable of carrying up to 3,600 passengers, according to the company's website.
