Police investigating the sudden death of a female at Cairns One apartment complex

A resident who leapt into action at the discovery of a drowned woman at Cairns One apartment complex on Tuesday night has told of the anguish of being unable to save her.

A resident of a large Westcourt apartment block has opened up about desperate attempts to revive a drowned woman after her lifeless body was pulled from the complex’s swimming pool on Tuesday night.

Fabian Di Cola was having dinner nearby at the Gregory St complex when screaming alerted him to the tragedy.

The city hospitality worker raced toward the direction of the commotion to find the unresponsive body of a 37-year-old woman had already been pulled out of the pool.

“From what I heard, there was a 10-minute gap between when security last went past and saw no-one and when I saw her,” he said.

A resident and property management spokeswoman confirmed a death happened within the Cairns One apartment complex on Tuesday night. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

“She was in the water, she had already drowned. I went over and did CPR, but I could not save her.

“Paramedics said she was gone before we got her out of the water.”

Mr Di Cola said the woman lived at the Cairns One complex.

Shaken by the ordeal, he said not being able to save the woman’s life came with a heavy emotional burden.

Despite feeling like she wouldn’t pull through, Mr Di Cola continued with CPR for 10 minutes, assisted by a body corporate manager, until the Queensland Ambulance Service arrived.

It is understood emergency services attempted to revive the woman.

“Just to give CPR to anyone and knowing they are dead before you even start, it’s pretty s***,” he said.

Police were called to the Gregory St address in Westcourt about 9pm on Tuesday night where they found a female, in her 30s, unresponsive in the swimming pool. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Police were called to the complex on Gregory St about 9pm on Tuesday where they found a woman, in her 30s, unresponsive by a swimming pool.

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said the incident happened close to the complex’s Mann St entrance.

Cairns One has more than 450 individual apartments on site.

When asked, many residents spoken to by the Cairns Post were unaware a death had occurred near their homes, citing the size of the property.

“We don’t know exactly what’s happened,” a property management spokeswoman said.

“The police are investigating.”

A Queensland Police spokesman said an inquiry had been launched to determine the exact cause of her death.

“We are investigating and preparing a report for the coroner,” he said.

“This is a sudden death investigation.

“We are not qualified to say how that person died.”

The tragedy comes as another female was transported by helicopter, about 1.40pm on Wednesday, to Cairns Hospital in a stable condition after a near-drowning incident off a boat in Port Douglas waters.

Another person, a man in his 20s, is believed to have drowned while snorkelling on Saxon Reef on Monday.

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Originally published as Police investigating the sudden death of a female at Cairns One apartment complex