A THREE-YEAR-OLD girl was rescued from a swimming pool after she lost her grip on a float and slipped under the water.

Polly Parkin was taking part in a swimming lesson at Basildon Sporting Village when she went under.

The girl’s swimming teacher, who has not been named, jumped in to help her while a lifeguard also came to her aid.

Polly’s mum, Charlotte Lang, 23, of Waterville Drive, Pitsea, has since taken her daughter out of lessons.

She said: “It was absolutely terrible.

She was having her lesson and she went underwater and I thought she’s going to come back up and she did but she went under again.

“I thought, this isn’t right, I started banging on the window of the viewing area to get their attention.

“Polly was with another girl who started shouting to the teacher.

“Her teacher got to her first and got her out. It was horrible.

“He lifted her up out of the water and she spat a load of water out. She started crying and was really shocked. She’s shaken up and she’s not been herself since. It was only her second swimming lesson.”

Everyone Active, which runs the sporting village, in Gloucester Park, said a review of the incident had taken place.

A spokesman said: “We can confirm an incident occurred involving a child getting into difficulty during a swimming lesson.

“The child lost hold of a floatation aid and slipped under the water. The lifeguard on duty in the teaching pool noticed immediately and undertook a rescue.

“The pool is lifeguarded using the Royal Life Saving Society and Institute of Qualified Lifeguards 10:20 system. The entire pool area is scanned by the lifeguard every ten seconds, ensuring they are in a position to perform a rescue in any area within that zone, within 20 seconds.

“We can confirm the rescue was conducted within this timeframe.

The child was not harmed and was able to continue with the remainder of the lesson.”