MINOT — Police said Friday that the discovery of a 5-year-old girl underwater in the deep end of a pool appeared to be a “tragic accident.”

Capt. Ray Lafrance of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department said the girl was at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in critical condition. He declined to release her name.

Lafrance said she was swimming with eight other children, ages 5 to 12, in a pool at 145 Fortin Drive on Thursday evening while several adults were having a Pampered Chef party in the home.

The homeowner and another man were outside supervising the children, “cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids,” Lafrance said.

The girl was last seen playing in the shallow end of the pool.

“Somebody mentioned, ‘Where is she?'” Lafrance said. “They looked around and nobody could see her. We understand they started looking for her. They found her in the bottom of the deep end of the pool.”

One adult had been standing by the deep end at the time, he said. The girl was pulled out. Adults started CPR, called 911 and she was rushed to the hospital.

The incident remained under investigation.

kskelton@sunjournal.com