A US school boy nearly drowned in a pool full of students and surrounded by parents, with distressing video showing him lying unnoticed at the bottom of the pool for nearly one minute. Larryn Watkins was placed in an induced coma after the near-death incident in Buffalo, New Jersey, on Tuesday while on a school visit.

The 13-year-old was pulled from the water by a life guard before others performed CPR on the poolside with the whole chaotic scene captured on video. “I heard a woman yell: ‘Is he okay? Is he okay?’ And then she walked away. Then I saw a lifeguard jump in and pull the boy out of the pool,” said Julienne Kuty, who filmed events while accompanying her grandchild to the pool. Ms Kuty told 7Eyewitness News her daughter-in-law, a nurse, helped to resuscitate the boy when he regained consciousness. “My son came up with 57 seconds that he was actually under the water,” she said. Larry was not taken to hospital immediately, with school officials believing he would “soon be able to walk”. He was given a bucket and told to take a seat and not admitted to hospital for several hours.

Father Larry Watkins, whose son has only recently begun to recover, said he was furious with how the school handled the situation. He also questioned why the school said his son was upright and walking around without checking on his actual condition in hospital where he lay in a coma. “Why would you have even given a statement to the news, period? What was your need to give a statement? At least come see my child before you give a statement,” he said. “Don’t give the statement first and then come see about my child. I think that was wrong,” he said. Mr Watkins said his son could not swim in deep water and was placed in an induced coma after arriving at hospital in a critical condition.

The local school board said the incident would be review using security footage from the pool. There are calls for all the school pool to be closed for the moment.