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Boy, 7, drowns in Kissimmee hotel pool

North Carolina boy drowns in Kissimmee hotel pool

KISSIMMEE - A 7-year-old North Carolina boy vacationing with family drowned in a hotel pool and remained unnoticed for hours by swimmers and deputies searching for him, an Osceola County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said.

A tourist wearing goggles found Tad Williams of Wadesboro, N.C., at the bottom of the 8-foot-deep pool at the Howard Johnson's Enchanted Land Resort about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said.

The boy had been reported missing by his family about 4:30 p.m. after he raced ahead of them to the pool area.

"The 7-year-old was very anxious to go swimming, so he took off ahead of his family and he went to the pool first," Lizasuain said. "By the time the family got down to the pool, they did not see him."

Deputies interviewed about 30 guests in the pool area before checking nearby restaurants and hotels and continuing to search by helicopter, she said.

"If you were standing at the side of the pool, you would not have seen him either," Lizasuain said.

The Sheriff's Office said the boy's death appeared to be an accident. An autopsy was scheduled to confirm the cause of death.

The family had arrived Saturday night for a vacation, Lizasuain said.

[Last modified July 5, 2005, 01:32:04]