A family vacation took a tragic turn on Tuesday when a mother and her 5-year-old daughter died at a resort in the Blue Mountains, near Collingwood.

The Ontario Provincial Police were called shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday evening to the scene of a pool at the Mountain Springs Resort, near Hwy. 26 and Grey Rd. 19, for the report of a drowning, said Const. Martin Hachey.

Police said a 34-year-old woman and 5-year-old child, both from Markham, were rushed to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Yiting Gong identified the woman and child as his wife, Tiffany, 34, and their daughter Chloe. He said they had gone down to the pool by themselves 10 minutes before him.

The family was on vacation, just days after Chloe graduated from senior kindergarten.

“There were no lifeguards to save my daughter and my wife,” Gong said in an interview with Simcoe.com. “It’s a terrible thing. I hate it.”

The pool has a sign that says it’s unsupervised and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Chloe was a senior kindergarten student at Iroquois Junior Public School in Scarborough. In a letter to parents, school principal Marcia Pate wrote it has been a sombre day for the school community as they mourn the tragedy.

“Chloe was a vibrant student who will be remembered fondly by her friends and teachers,” said Pate in a statement. She said specially trained Toronto District School Board staff were at the school to help guide students and staff.

Hachey said they are investigating the circumstances behind the incident. A post mortem is scheduled for Wednesday.

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