Late night reveller drowns in Pickwick pool

An early morning romp in a Belize City swimming pool has resulted in death by drowning. Around 2:30 this morning, twenty-nine year old Emilio Martin died when he failed to surface while swimming at the Belize Pickwick Club. According to police, they do not know how Martin and a female friend managed to get inside the private club, but once inside the pool, something went terribly wrong. The young woman, identified as Beverly Lauriano, told them that Martin was behind her, making his way across the water, when he went under and did not come back up. A security guard retrieved Martin’s body, but it was too late. According to Carla McSweaney, Manager of Pickwick Club, the couple, who are non-members, were let in by the security guard who knew Lauriano as a former employee of the club.

Carla McSweaney, Manager, Pickwick Club

“As far as I understood–I was at home–this happened about 2:30 in the morning. The girl and the man came, I understand that she’s an ex-employee of the club and she asked to security, whom she knows very well, to let her in to come and use the swimming pool.”

Jacqueline Woods

“But this is against the rule, I would imagine?”

Carla McSweaney

“Yeah, because we don’t allow non-members or staff to come and use the facilities here.”

According to McSweaney, the security guard, who has been working for the club for the past six years, told her that five minutes after the couple entered the water, Lauriano screamed at him for help. According to McSweaney, when the guard ran to the pool he saw Martin’s body lying motionless at the bottom of the pool.