The boy, who was born in 2005, had been swimming at Leksand Sommarland theme park near Lake Siljan when he was found at the bottom of the deep end by life guards, according to police in Dalarna County.

While it is unclear how the accident occurred, the water park’s head Mats Nobelius explained in a statement that a lifeguard had jumped in to save the boy as soon as the child was noticed.

However, resuscitation efforts proved fruitless and the boy died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

“We have never been involved in something like this in all the 28 years we’ve had the park,” Nobelius said to the TT news agency.

“You question yourself and even the staff – if we could have acted differently. But the guards were good and jumped in as soon as they saw the shadow that was on the way to the bottom,” he said.

The boy was found in the 3.5 metre deep pool, an area that has five trained guards surrounding it, according to the park manager.

The 25 minute response time from the ambulance left Nobelius considering the importance of upgrading his park’s resuscitation equipment to beyond that of the national regulations.

“As the ambulance situation in rural areas is bad and they can be quite far away, then maybe one needs a little more equipment than the rules require,” he said.

The pool, which has a total of 100,000 visitors a year, had 700 swimmers present at the time of the accident.

A police investigation has been launched and the boy’s parents have been notified.

TT/The Local/og

twitter.com/thelocalsweden