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UPDATED: 2:10 p.m. August 11, 2008

COBB COUNTY

Five-year-old from Smyrna drowns in water park pool


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/10/08

Cobb police have identified the 5-year-old boy who drowned Sunday at Sun Valley Beach in Powders Springs as Kavi Patel of Smyrna.

The boy's body was found in five feet of water, said Cobb police Sgt. Dana Pierce.

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Detectives believe the Kavi's parents lost sight of him for a few minutes, Pierce said. The parents notified fellow patrons and lifeguards.

Kavi was pulled from the water about 4:20 p.m. and lifeguards administered CPR. He was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Doctors were unable to revive the boy, Pierce said.

This is the second drowning this year at Sun Valley. In May, 16-year-old Ifeanyi Odihe drowned during an outing to celebrate the end of school at South Cobb High School Academy of Research and Medical Sciences, the school's magnet program.

Inspectors for the Office of Environmental Health, part of Cobb County & Douglas Public Health, were at Sun Valley on Monday, said spokeswoman Darlene Foote.

Foote said inspectors also went to Sun Valley in May after Odihe's drowning and made recommendations to the water park. They made a follow-up visit in June.

Foote refused to discuss the recommendations the inspectors made.

Odihe's body was pulled from 12 feet of water. The teenager knew how to swim, his family said.

Odihe's death was ruled accidental, but his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sun Valley.

"They need to look into this to see if there are any similarities," said Atlanta attorney Harold Spence, who is part of the legal team that filed the lawsuit against Sun Valley on behalf of the Odihe family.

In the lawsuit, filed in Cobb State Court in June, attorneys allege that the park's carelessness caused the teenager's death.

The Odihe lawsuit contends that the park advertises itself as having "crystal clear water."

But while Simon Odihe, the teen's father, searched for him he "observed that the water was very murky and appeared almost opaque in character in the deeper end."

Among other allegations, the Odihe lawsuit contends that Sun Valley failed to meet water clarity standards, that lifeguards were not adequately attentive, and that the lifeguards were not well-trained.

Sun Valley officials did not return a telephone call and e-mail requests for comment.

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