Brit footballer Sajawal Aziz on life support after nearly drowning in pool with ‘no guard’ as family face tragic dilemma
THE family of British teen Sajawal Aziz is fighting to bring him home after he was found unresponsive at the bottom of a pool in Sweden.
The 16-year-old, from Hounslow in West London, is now comatose on life support in Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, southern Sweden.
He was in Sweden while on a trip with his local football club last friday
His mum, dad and uncle have all flown out to be by his bedside and are lobbying to have him flown back to the UK, where they want to take him off life support and say goodbye.
Ravleen Arora, a close family friend, set up a GoFundMe to help raise costs for Sajawal’s family which is already above £12,000.
Ravleen, 20, whose brother Dilveer is Sajawal’s friend of 12 years, told The Sun: “Sajawal, he is my younger brother’s best friend. They’ve been best friends since nursery.
“You can imagine how much he’s been over at our house. We’re basically family at this point. Our parents know each other very well.”
She told The Sun: “His parents have flown out to Sweden, obviously to be with him,” and said they have an air ambulance on standby at the hospital waiting to fly the teen home.
Ravleen said: “The only source of communication with the UK side is through us, all of his friends, we’ve gathered together to be helping at this time [sic].
“Everything is now to help the family keep it going. All the costs are being covered by the family… they’re making ends meet somehow.”
Ravleen told The Sun Sajawal’s team had lost their match on Friday afternoon and went swimming to “raise their spirits” afterwards.
She claims staff at the pool allegedly told her there was “no CCTV” and “no lifeguard on duty” at the time.
Sajawal, who Ravleen said is not a keen swimmer, was then “drowning for at least five minutes in the deep end”.
She said: “It’s just very strange… and it’s a mystery how no one spotted him.
“Sajawal was not a strong swimmer. He’s actually quite afraid of water.
“And the side that he drowned on was sort of the deep end of the pool. The parents and the friends are sort of struggling to understand how he would end up there in the first place.”
Brit teen Michael Camino – who had gone out to Sweden with a different football league – apparently pulled Sajawal from the water.
Ravleen said: “After they pulled him out, CPR and stuff was done.
“From like his head down, his body is stable, it’s just his brain that’s not functioning at the moment. So he’s on the ventilator on life support.
“What these Swedish doctors are saying is that they want to pull him off life support.
“But the parents are sort of fighting and saying that we want to be in our own country. Like he’s a British citizen, he’s born here.
“He has all the rights to be in the UK, but he’s not being allowed to be brought here.”
Ravleen said Sajawal’s mum, dad and younger sister are devastated.
She told The Sun of the teen’s heartbroken mum: “She’s kind of just numb. Like when you speak to her, all she does is cry. There’s no other sort of reaction from her.
Ravleen said Sajawal’s younger sister, Juwariyah, is “really trying to comfort her parents and give them hope”.
“But obviously also, she knows the situation. She’s just trying to be strong for them,” Ravleen added.
Sajawal’s dad, Tariq, has been “tireless” in his efforts to bring home their son.
Ravleen told The Sun: “He’s just been tireless. He hasn’t slept in days, like on the phone to doctors, lawyers, whatever he can sort out”.
Tariq, she says, “is only fighting to bring him back to the UK, not because he’s expecting UK healthcare to be any better.
“He just wants his son to have a proper funeral at home.
“Today they actually went to court to get an injunction to stop the Swedish hospital from turning off the life support.”
Ravleen has also launched a Change.org petition, asking for the British government to intervene. It has received more than 1,600 signatures.
She added: “This situation is distressing to his loved ones, and we believe swift action from the British government can help.
“To achieve this, we request the UK government to exert diplomatic pressure on Sweden to reevaluate their decision, ensuring they consider Sajawal’s best interests, alongside medical judgement.”
Friends and family have gone to London MPs Ruth Cadbury and Seema Malhotra to help get Sajawal transferred to a local hospital.
Ravleen said they had pushed through a bid from West Middlesex hospital, but the paperwork fell through at the last minute after Swedish doctors protested.
“The Swedish doctors’ point of view, they’re saying that it’s unethical because of the condition that he’s in,” she told The Sun.
“We’ve spoken to three different hospitals that have been willing to bring Sajavu over.
“And today it got to like a very, really hopeful point where West Middlesex Hospital in West London, they agreed to actually fly Sajawal over.
“And then [at the] last minute, they pulled out because the Swedish doctors turned around and said, well, actually, we don’t want to let him go because it’s unethical.
“His brain’s not functioning. He’s going to suffer on the flight.”
Sajawal was playing for one of 128 English teams sent over to Sweden for this year’s Gothia Cup, which sees almost 2,000 teams from 80 nations compete.
Niklas Ehnfors, head of communications at Allingsås council, said the teenager had been spotted and pulled out of the water by Swedish players who were also in the pool, reports Metro.
He added: “In the meantime, staff were called who could establish that he was lifeless – he was not breathing and had no pulse. CPR was started, which continued until paramedics arrived at the scene.”
Spokesperson for the tournament, Malin Fahlén, said staff were “extremely concerned and saddened” by events.
He said: “Now we will try to focus all our resources to support and care in the best way.”
Police are investigating Friday’s incident at the swimming pool, which was evacuated and shuttered for the weekend.
It is the second year running that a teenager has drowned in the same pool during the tournament in Sweden.
An FCDO spokesperson told the Sun: “We are providing consular support to the family of a British national hospitalised in Sweden.”
To donate to the GoFundMe click here.
To sign the Change.org petition click here.