Portland to pay $1.66 million to family of Afghan refugee girl who drowned at city pool

Portland City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a $1.66 million settlement with the family of

Manizha Azimi, a 12-year-old girl

who drowned in 2023

at a city-run pool — the first fatal swimming accident at a public city pool in nearly four decades.

Azimi was found unresponsive in the water at Montavilla Pool on Aug. 25, 2023. Temperatures that day had topped 90 degrees. She was taken to a hospital, where she died three days later, on Aug. 28.

“Manizha was a bright shining star in our lives,” her family said in a tribute shared shortly after her death by the Afghan Support Network, a nonprofit formed to help Afghan refugees. “She aspired to become a doctor and had a strong determination to make a positive impact on the world.”

The Azimi family had arrived in Oregon as part of a wave of Afghan refugees following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power.

— Fedor Zarkhin is a breaking news and enterprise reporter. Do you have a story? Reach him by phone or text at 971-373-2905 or by email at


fzarkhin@oregonian.com


.

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