WASHINGTON — The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Monday that millions of above-ground pools are being recalled after several deaths associated with them were reported.

The recall of 48-inch and taller above-ground pools from Bestway, Intex, and Polygroup is due to the compression strap that surrounds the outside of the pool legs, potentially allowing a child to access the pool and posing a drowning risk.

In total, around five million of these pools have been sold since 2002.

CPSC said that nine children between the ages of 22 months and 3 years old have drowned after gaining access to the pools via the footholds. These happened in California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri between 2007 and 2022. 

"CPSC is also aware of three other incidents in 2011 and 2012 where children who gained access to the recalled pools were reported to have previously used the compression strap to gain entry to the pool," CPSC said.

The commission says that owners of these pools should immediately contact Bestway, Intex and Polygroup for a free repair kit that has a rope that attaches to each of the vertical support poles at the ground level and wraps around the pool.

"Consumers should first secure the repair and then cut and remove the compression strap from the pool," CPSC officials said.

The recalled above-ground pools were sold at Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe’s, Kmart, Toys “R” Us, Sam’s Club, The Home Depot, Big Lots, Costco and BJ’s stores, as well as online at Amazon.com, Wayfair.com and Bestway USA, Intex, Funsicle and Summer Waves websites.

Contact information for the manufacturers can be found below:
- Bestway toll-free at 844-593-4003 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or online at https://BWrecallsupport.expertinquiry.com or email at BWrecallsupport5516@sedgwick.com for more information.
- Intex toll-free at 800-549-8829 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. PTMonday through Friday, or online at www.Intexcorp.com/recall or email recallhelp@intexcorp.com for more information. 
- Polygroup toll-free at 888-621-4137 from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. MT Monday through Friday or online at https://polygrouprecall.com or email at poolrecall@polygroup.com for more information.