A grieving father has slammed a Cypriot hotel after his superfit rugby player son became the third person to die in the swimming pool in five years. Ben Woods, 21 was on a family holiday at King Evalthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Paphos, Cyprus, when he joined in a game of volleyball in the pool in July 2022.

His father, Michael Woods told an inquest how lifeguards had been “messing on their phones” at the other end of the pool, meaning they were unaware that Ben had gone under the water. He said that the hotel’s pool had a bridge over the top of it, obstructing the view of the lifeguards who had positioned themselves at the other side to the one Ben got into difficulties in. Mr Woods snr told the inquest how he was informed by one of his nephews that Ben was "not breathing" shortly after the game had commenced.

He arrived at the poolside to find holidaymakers giving Ben, who was described as a “decent swimmer,” CPR.

Mr Woods said he was told two lifeguards had "been messing on their phones" at the other end of the “quite large” pool and had "neglected" the other part of the pool which they could not have viewed because of the bridge.

He said he witnessed a “scene of chaos” at the pool and what happened there was “absolutely disgraceful”, saying the one lifeguard did not appear to know how to operate a defibrillator.

Eye witness Dawn Wingfield described how one lifeguard brought a defibrillator “but I don't think he really knew what he was doing” and it was “as if they had not been properly trained”.

Mr Woods said that an ambulance was called but on arrival, it became evident that they were not paramedics and were merely drivers.

He said he and his wife, who worked in healthcare for 25 years, concluded the paramedics "didn't seem to have a clue".

The ambulance is said to have taken 25 minutes to reach the hospital with the family left outside in the car park with no communication for an additional 30 minutes upon arrival before being told that their son was in a critical condition.

Shortly after 8pm, they were told he had passed away.

In his statement to the inquest, Mr Woods said: "We were all devastated and shocked to lose Ben so suddenly. His death has been painful for all his family and friends.”

He accused the police and hospital staff of showing “no empathy” and accused the police of changing the cause of death from “heart attack” to “inconclusive” on their records.

Mr Woods also alleges that the family were shown “shown no empathy or dignity” the following day when they were summoned to the police station and that he refused to sign a statement handed to him because of inaccuracies within it that police refused to correct.

No action was taken against the hotel by authorities even though an investigation found it did not have a licence to operate the swimming pool, the inquest was told, with his father claiming there had been three deaths at the pool in five years.

Recording an accidental death verdict, Manchester West Senior Coroner Timothy Brennand said Ben had been "medically fit and well" and a "competent swimmer" but was found "unresponsive" under the water.

A post mortem examination conducted in Cyprus, and accepted by the UK coroner, concluded he died of "acute pneumonia caused by the aspiration of gastric contents and terminal cardio-respiratory failure".