5 Children Claw at Slimy Sides of Pool, Drown

Five children, aged 6 to 13 and all related, clawed at the slime-coated sides of a closed municipal pool before they slipped back into stagnant rainwater and drowned, authorities said today.

The bodies were discovered Sunday evening in the deep end of Fisher Park Pool by two boys who spotted a pair of shoes outside the fence, then climbed in to check, Detective William Burns said.

“There was a lot of slime on the ledge going down into the deep end of the pool,” Burns said. “It looked like they got down in there and could not get back out. It was very sad. We could see where they had scraped with their fingernails trying to get back up.”

Police said the five apparently had climbed over the fence and sneaked into the closed pool to catch frogs.

7 Feet of Stagnant Water

The victims were identified as Linda Britton, 13, and her sister, Ossie, 12; Edward Thigpen, 10, and his sister, London, 6, cousins of the Brittons; and Jacqueline Sharp, 10, an aunt to the other four.

The city-owned pool was to be cleaned and filled with fresh water before being opened later this month, Burns said. The 12-foot deep end of the pool was filled with about seven feet of stagnant rainwater.

Mary Rivera, who lives nearby, said she rushed to the pool in an attempt to help the youngsters but couldn’t climb the fence.

“All you could see was shoes and slide marks where they tried to get out,” she said. “The water was so dirty that you couldn’t even see them.”