KISSIMMEE, Fla. – A 7-year-old boy vacationing with his family drowned in a hotel pool and remained unnoticed for a couple of hours as deputies and others searched for him, authorities said.
A tourist wearing goggles found Tad Williams, of Wadesboro, N.C., Sunday at the bottom of the 8-foot-deep pool at the Howard Johnson's Enchanted Land Resort (search), Osceola County sheriff's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said.
The sheriff's office ruled the death an accident. An autopsy was scheduled to confirm the cause of death.
Tad had been reported missing after he raced to the pool area ahead of other family members. The boy's body was found about two hours later.
"The 7-year-old was very anxious to go swimming, so he took off ahead of his family and he went to the pool first," Lizasuain said. "By the time the family got down to the pool, they did not see him."
Deputies interviewed about 30 guests in the pool area before checking nearby restaurants and hotels and searching by helicopter, she said.
"If you were standing at the side of the pool, you would not have seen him, either," Lizasuain said.
The family had arrived Saturday night, Lizasuain said.
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