A 3-year-old girl miraculously survived a freak accident involving a pool drain — which ripped out her small intestine during a family vacation in Mexico, according to a lawsuit.

Little Paloma Quatrini was just days away from celebrating her fourth birthday in Feb. 2025 when the protective covering of the drain in the kiddie pool at the Punta Mita Resort in Nayarit went haywire, sucking her in as she was sitting in the shallow end, according to the complaint obtained by People.

Paloma’s mom and dad, Carolina Velez and Adam Quatrini, frantically tried to pull their daughter away from the drain — but the force of the suction was too strong.

Paloma Quatrini, wrapped in a towel by a pool.
A 3-year-old girl miraculously survived a freak accident involving a pool drain — which ripped out her small intestine during a family vacation in Mexico, according to a lawsuit.CBS Pittsburgh via the Quatrini family
After two terrifying minutes, an off switch for the pump was finally located underneath the pool, and Paloma, now 5, was rushed to the hospital.

“The suction was so strong that [her] small intestine was ripped out of her body,” the complaint states. She also suffered severe internal damage.

The condition, known medically as evisceration, is extremely rare and often fatal, according to CBS News.

The girl was rushed by air to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where the family is from, and underwent dozens of dangerous life-saving surgeries over several months, including a procedure to reconstruct her digestive system.

A shallow resort pool with yellow caution tape blocking access.
Paloma Quatrini was just days away from celebrating her fourth birthday in Feb. 2025 when the protective covering of the drain in the kiddie pool at the Punta Mita Resort in Nayarit went haywire, sucking her in as she was sitting in the shallow end, according to reports.CBS Pittsburgh

Underwater view of a pool drain bubbling.
After two terrifying minutes, an off switch for the pump was finally located underneath the pool, and Paloma, now 5, was rushed to the hospital.CBS Pittsburgh
“All of the small bowel was gone,” Dr. Geoffrey Bond told CBS News. “We brought the colon up and joined the colon to the small bowel, so essentially she’s connected, but she has no small bowel.”

Paloma’s parents now connect a line into her body that delivers nutrients directly into her bloodstream every night for 12 hours.

She may be a future candidate for an internal organ transplant.

Paloma Quatrini, 5, lying in an ambulance after an injury.
The girl was rushed by air to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where the family is from, and underwent dozens of dangerous life-saving surgeries over several months, including a procedure to reconstruct her digestive system.CBS Pittsburgh via the Quatrini family
The girl’s family has filed a lawsuit against Hayward, the company that manufactured the pool draining system.

Carolina Velez and Adam Quatrini initially filed a complaint in Pittsburgh in July, which named several other defendants, including the resort, but it was later withdrawn, according to People Magazine.

Hayward filed a motion to dismiss the original case, claiming they were not responsible because the incident occurred in Mexico.

Paloma Quatrini, now 5, sits between her parents, Carolina Velez and Adam Quatrini, on a couch.
Paloma’s parents now connect a line into her body that delivers nutrients directly into her bloodstream every night for 12 hours.CBS Pittsburgh

Paloma’s family has since refiled the lawsuit, with Hayward as the sole defendant. It was filed in Pittsburgh again because a majority of the witnesses involved reside in the area.

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“A 3-year-old girl should not have to litigate her case in a foreign country where she was almost killed,” the family attorney Robert Zimmerman told People Magazine in a statement.

“The last thing these parents want to do is go back to Mexico, where this horrific incident occurred.”