9-year-old boy drowns in pool at NJ water park

BERLIN TOWNSHIP — A 9-year-old boy died Tuesday night after drowning in a Camden County water park.

Township police identified the boy as Hersh Meilech Grossman, of Brooklyn, who was at Sahara Sam's with the Belzer Talmud Torah and several camp groups. 750-800 campers were in the park at the time.

Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Alex McVeigh said Berlin Township police were called to the park about 7:35 p.m. They said the boy was found unconscious in the pool.

Police said that when fire and EMS arrived lifeguards had removed the boy from the pool and were performing CPR

He was taken to Virtua Voorhees Hospital and was pronounced dead an hour later, according to police.

Berlin Township police said the boy had gone into cardiac arrest as a result of the drowning in one of the outdoor pools at the 58,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor water park on Route 73 in the West Berlin section of the township.

Sahara Sam spokeswoman Sharon Rushen said said the park is "deeply saddened by the incident and our prayers are with the guest’s family and friends at this difficult time. We are completing a thorough review of the incident, which occurred during a private event, and are working closely with local authorities."

The news website Yeshiva World reported that the boy's funeral was scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in Brooklyn.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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