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A holidaymaker has relived the shock which swept over a resort after three members of the same family drowned in a pool tragedy.
Nadia Finch from Rochester was staying at the Club La Costa World on the Costa del Sol, when news broke that a father, son and daughter had died on Christmas Eve.
The health worker, from City Way, had been celebrating her 50th birthday with husband Wayne when she heard about the deaths of Comfort, nine, Praise-Emmanuel, 16, and their dad Gabriel Diya, 52, from a friend in Kent.
Mother-of-two Nadia was on a trip to Marbella, in southern Spain, when she got a message asking if she was alright.
She said: “She had seen it on the BBC news. I went to reception and was told it was true but they couldn’t say much because the police were investigating.
“I later talked to a man who gave them CPR but it was too late. He said the mum was by the pool distraught shouting ‘Glory to God’.”
The incident happened at 1.30pm when apparently the Diya family were the only ones around one of the many pools.
Nadia said more than a day later, management posted an official notice to guests, most of who were British.
She said: “It is a massive place and I swear up until then many did not know about it. And those that did, didn’t want to talk about.
“Nobody seemed to have heard any sirens and there was not a heavy police presence. It was a like a ghost town. Everyone including the staff were in shock.”
But Nadia and Wayne, who rented an apartment at the busy destination and stayed there in July, said they will be definitely going back.
She said: “It was just so sad. Perhaps they should not have gone ahead with the Christmas Eve party and I couldn’t raise a glass of Champagne on Christmas Day.
'It was a like a ghost town. Everyone including the staff were in shock,' Nadia Finch
“At one point I couldn’t sleep and spent the night pacing up and down in our apartment.
“I wanted to come home on Christmas Day because the atmosphere was so weird and spooky but there weren’t any flights.”
Mum and wife Olubunmi Diya has since flown back to the UK with daughter Favour, 14, after hiring a lawyer in Spain.
