Horrifying Ordeal: Family's Worst Nightmare Unfolds As Girl, 8, Tragically Pulled Into Hotel Pool Pipe

The unfortunate event occurred at a DoubleTree hotel on Saturday, where Aliyah Jaico was swimming with her family in a 'lazy river style' pool.

Initially, Aliyah was reported missing, sparking a frantic search for the young girl. "Did she wander off? Did somebody take her or what? So anyhow, we mobilized a lot of people," said Tim Miller, the founder of Texas EquuSearch, a search and rescue organization that was called in to assist in locating the child. "We had people actually searching outside and in different rooms and everything."

The search team initially suspected that Aliyah may have been abducted from the hotel. However, a review of the hotel's pool security footage revealed a chilling reality: the child had gone underwater and never resurfaced.

The discovery of Aliyah's body came after the pool was drained and a camera was sent into one of its pipes. "We put them poles in there almost 20 feet, and we saw her little hand and part of her body, so we got the fire department back out there," Miller recounted.

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Miller further explained the suspected cause of the tragedy. "[It] appears right now the pump was put in there, and it was probably malfunctioning because of the open pipe that she ended up in was supposed to be pushing water out," he said. "And right beside that pipe, there was another pipe that actually had a big plastic filter like screen on the front that’s supposed to be sucking water in. So I know there was one speculation last night from somebody that knows quite a bit and everything that the pump was wired wrong. So it was sucking instead of pushing."

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The search and recovery effort, which lasted approximately 13 hours, was emotionally taxing for the team. "Many of us had to wipe tears from our eyes," Miller said. "This is one of the saddest ones we’ve seen in a good while."

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Aliyah's family has filed a wrongful death suit against the hotel and its parent companies, alleging gross negligence that led to the child's death. The family is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

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This incident is not an isolated case. In 2006, a six-year-old girl, Abigail Taylor, died after the suction of a pool drain at a Minnesota golf club caused severe internal injuries. The following year, Zachary Cohn, the six-year-old son of a Connecticut millionaire, died after his arm was sucked into a drainpipe that may have been missing a safety grate at his family’s pool.