Pool drain sucks out small intestine of four-year-old Paloma Quatrini at resort in Mexico

A dream family holiday to Mexico turned into a nightmare when a broken pool drain forever changed the life of a young girl, days before her fourth birthday.

Carolina Velez and Adam Quatrini, from Pittsburgh in the US, were enjoying a family holiday at an upscale resort with their two children, Paloma and Enzo, when the unthinkable happened.

On the final day of their trip, three‑year‑old Paloma was playing in a shallow baby pool, a spot Mr Quatrini described as “the last place” he ever imagined something dangerous would happen.

The grate cover on top of the drain in the pool became loose and the drain suction was so intense that Paloma became trapped on top.

“I ran over and tried to pull her up and the pressure was so great,” Mr Quatrini said.

Ms Velez’s sister sought help to shut off the pool, which involved going underneath it and took about two minutes.

Once shut off, it quickly became clear that Paloma was in a dire situation.

Doctors at a nearby surgery thought she had suffered an anal prolapse, which was deemed “not a big deal” and would need a simple operation.

But five minutes into the op, the surgeon came out and asked Ms Velez if she had seen her daughter’s small intestine in the pool, because it was no longer in her body.

A report for CBS Pittsburgh described that the pool drain “eviscerated Paloma, ripping her small intestine’s from her body”, which for most is a life-ending injury.

Paloma spent her fourth birthday being flown to UPMC children’s hospital in Pittsburgh where paediatric transplant surgeon Geoffrey Bond operated her three times in five days.

“It’s a horrifying accident, unfortunately we’ve dealt with this before, we’ve actually done an intestinal transplant many years ago on a paediatric patient who had come from another country, similar accident,” Dr Bond said.

Dr Bond completed seven operations over two and half months, saving Paloma’s life — but it will be altered forever.

“Just a very small segment of bowl (was left), then all of the small bowl was gone and then we brought the colon up and joined the colon to the small bowel, so essentially she’s connected but she has no small bowl,” Dr Bond said.

Paloma now has to be connected to a machine every night before bed to get the nutrients she needs to survive.

It is a permanent catheter-like fixture that goes down Paloma’s throat and stops at the top of her heart, where the nutrients are then pumped around her body.

She is disconnected from it in the morning.

While Ms Velez said that the family had been “in survival mode for the past year”, other parents had lost their children to similar incidents.

In 2008, six-year-old Abigail Taylor died from a similar injury in Minnesota.

“This is not the only accident that comes from this, usually what happens is that they’re in deeper water and they get stuck at the bottom of the pool,” Mr Quartrini said.

Paloma’s parents have encouraged carers to be aware of the issue and always inspect drain covers and know where the emergency shut off button is.

“Every time we meet someone and they hear the story, my first thing is please tell this to everybody you know,” Ms Velez said.