Child critical after near-drowning

A 7-year-old boy remains in a critical condition at Starship Hospital after nearly drowning at Palm Springs Thermal Pool in Parakai, north of Auckland.

Police, ambulance and the Fire Service were called to the incident which happened at 10.50am today, and administered first aid until the boy was transferred to hospital at 12.30pm.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called at 11am and arrived to find the boy in cardiac arrest. After working on him for an hour, paramedics managed to get his heart started again.

A rescue helicopter paramedic who attended the incident told the New Zealand Herald the boy was with his family.

"We worked on him for an hour and we started his heart again, but he's still very, very sick."

A member of the family said tonight they were "very shaken" about what had happened. Victim Support personnel were with the family but they were too upset to talk to media.

An Auckland District Health Board spokeswoman said the boy was still in a critical condition.

The manager of Palm Springs Thermal Pool, which is about five minutes from Helensville, said he could "neither confirm nor deny where it [the near drowning incident] happened".

"I'm not at liberty to say anything about anything that happened here today."