5-Year-Old Girl Suffers Horror Injuries in Freak Hotel Pool Drain Accident

A family vacation in Mexico turned into every parent’s worst nightmare when a little girl was critically injured in a horrifying pool accident that changed her life forever.

Paloma Quatrini is now 5 years old, but she was just days away from turning 4 when the tragedy happened in February 2025. According to a complaint filed on March 16, Paloma was with her parents, Carolina Velez and Adam Quatrini, at the Punta Mita Resort in Mexico on the final day of their trip when a fun afternoon at a kids’ pool suddenly became a medical nightmare.

The Pittsburgh family was spending time at the shallow pool at the resort’s Kupuri Beach Club while Paloma played with her younger brother and cousins. At some point, the lawsuit says the protection on a pool drain allegedly failed, trapping the little girl in the water.

What happened next was devastating.

According to the complaint, the drain had been designed and manufactured by Hayward. Paloma’s parents desperately tried to pull her away, but the force of the suction was reportedly too powerful. Family members also could not quickly find the emergency button to shut off the pool pump, and according to Carolina’s sister, someone had to go underneath the pool to turn it off.

By the time Paloma was freed, the damage was catastrophic.

The complaint says the suction was so strong that her small intestine was ripped from her body. She was first taken to a nearby hospital and was later flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where doctors raced to save her life.

Dr. Geoffrey Bond, a pediatric transplant surgeon, later described the case as horrifying, especially as a father himself. Paloma remained in the hospital for months and went through more than a dozen surgeries as doctors tried to stabilize her and reconstruct her digestive system.

One of those procedures attempted to rebuild part of what had been lost. But according to reports, nearly all of Paloma’s small bowel was gone.

Now, the little girl faces a lifetime of medical challenges.

Paloma, who recently turned 5, now relies on parenteral nutrition, a treatment that delivers nutrients directly into her bloodstream. Her parents connect the tube every night around 7 p.m. and leave it running for 12 hours.

Her family says the accident has permanently altered her life and that she will continue dealing with serious medical issues for years to come.

The legal fight has also been complicated.

Paloma’s family first filed a complaint in Pittsburgh back in July, naming Hayward along with several other defendants, including the resort. That case was later withdrawn after it was determined the additional defendants were not involved in the matter. Hayward’s lawyers then pushed to dismiss the original filing, arguing that the accident happened in Mexico, not Pennsylvania, and that the company is not incorporated in Pennsylvania and does not conduct business there.

The family has since filed a new lawsuit in Pittsburgh naming only Hayward as the defendant. Their attorney, Robert Zimmerman, said the case is being pursued there because most of the witnesses are based in the Pittsburgh area.

He also made it clear the family does not want to relive the trauma by returning to Mexico.

“A 3-year-old girl should not have to litigate her case in a foreign country where she was almost killed,” Zimmerman said. He added that the last thing Paloma’s parents want is to go back to the place where the horrifying incident happened.

The family is seeking more than $150,000 in damages and a jury trial.

In the wake of the accident, Paloma’s parents are also urging others to take a close look at pool safety before getting in the water. They want families to inspect drain covers and make sure they know exactly where the emergency shutoff button is located.

As Carolina put it, every time she tells someone what happened, she has one message: tell everyone you know.