Three years ago, Rainko Tai was one of 118 party-goers at a pool party held at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Causeway Bay.
The 21-year-old was just one month shy of her 22nd birthday when her body was found at the bottom of the pool shortly after the party ended. The police treated the incident as a drowning, but Tai’s family members at the time demanded an investigation into why it took so long for her to be found.
The family were at the Coroner’s Court yesterday as part of a four-day inquest into Tai’s.
The first witness to come forward was Lau Shu-kei, a lifeguard who was on duty at the party. He told the court that party-goers were allowed to bring inflatable toys into the pool — but not so many as would make it difficult for the lifeguard to see who was in the water.
He added that guests who drank alcohol were told not to go into the pool, a warning he said was ignored by most of the guests.
According to Apple Daily, he blew the whistle at 1am signaling the end of the party and asked guests to leave the pool. He said he did not see Tai in the water until about eight minutes later, when he spotted a woman in the pool with her head in the water.
He said he initially thought she was swimming until he realized there were no bubbles in the water.
He told the court that after she was pulled out of the pool, Tai began coughing up blood after he tried to administer CPR by pushing her chest 10 to 15 times. He then called for a colleague to phone an ambulance and bring over an automated external defibrillator, or an AED.
Lau explained that the AED he used when he was training had instructions in Chinese. However, the AED he used to try to resuscitate Tai used English instructions, and the only words he understood were “CPR” and “clear.”
He added that while the languages may have been different, the principles of operating the machines were still the same. The lifeguard said that two foreign women also intervened and tried to save Tai’s life.
The court also heard from Tai’s father, who said his daughter did not drink or smoke. He also said that Tai did take swimming lessons as a child but could not swim very well.
A consultant at Ruttonjee Hospital’s intensive care unit told the court that Tai died of multiple organ failure due to drowning and had a high blood alcohol level.
The magistrate presiding over the inquest, Ko Wai-hung, said the party’s organizers — believed to be the Hong Kong Dragons Australian Rules Football Club — did not send a representative. Ko then instructed the five jurors not to guess as to the reason why someone was not sent.
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