Aynsley (left) with her family before she left on her first foreign trip

An inquest in Llanelli heard Aynsley Daniels had just arrived at the resort of Toscolano near Lake Garda in northern Italy, with her grandmother June Jones and other family friends, when she headed for the pool.

Witnesses saw the young girl from Llanelli playing games and enjoying herself in the shallow end of the water with three or four other children.

Holidaymaker Gian Paolo Reguitti saw the youngster arrive and said she went straight to the pool.

"The water in the pool was cold," he said in a statement read out at the hearing.

All of a sudden I noticed one girl was floating face down in the water Hermon Edward Mohr

"There was very little sun and it had been raining."

But tourist Hermon Edward Mohr, who was at the poolside at the time of the incident last July, recalled seeing Aynsley and the other children playing happily.

In his statement he said: "They were playing and going under the water."

He said the children were trying to blow bubbles and were enjoying themselves.

"All of a sudden I noticed one girl was floating face down in the water," added Mr Mohr.

Life-support

He tried to revive Aynsley, as did paramedics who were called to the scene.

Aynsley was then flown by air ambulance to the nearby Brescia Civil Hospital where she was put on a life-support machine.

Her parents Stuart and Andrea flew out to be at her bedside.

But she remained in a coma for seven days without any signs of recovery and the heart- breaking decision was made to switch the life support off.

An initial post-mortem examination was carried out in Italy and a second conducted by consultant pathologist Dr Leslie Ann Murray at Llanelli's Prince Philip Hospital on 1 August.

The group were beginning a holiday near Lake Garda

She found that there was no sign of any sudden illness that could have caused Aynsley to lose consciousness and concluded on balance of probability she had drowned.

Coroner John Owen said it was a tragic accident.

He said: "The little girl was playing in the swimming pool at the shallow end.

"It may well be that the water was not particularly warm, but Aynsley had gone into the swimming pool and must have been there for some time playing happily."

He offered his deepest sympathies to Aynsley's parents and other family members.

The death touched many in Llanelli and a fund was set up to fly Aynsley's body back to Wales as the holiday party was only partly covered by holiday insurance.