Officials at the pool where a nine-year-old boy drowned on Wednesday say the water park's safety procedures have usually not been a problem.

Christian Dufour, spokesperson for the Mont Saint-Sauveur Aquatic Park, said no one has ever drowned at the park, which attracts about 80,000 children every year.

"The incidents at the wave pool have been very limited throughout the past years," said Dufour. "The wave pool is still is a very safe attraction."

Dufour said most pools at the park have two lifeguards, but the wave pool, where the boy died, has three, since it is larger.

Raynald Hawkins, director-general of the Lifesaving Society's Quebec branch, said wave pools should have more lifeguards than regular swimming pools due to safety concerns.

"We have more lifeguards on duty because we know we have a small risk with those waves," said Hawkins. "We have more lifeguards on duty usually with the wave pools."

He said pool officials usually turn off the wave pool every a few times every hour to make sure no unnoticed incidents have taken place.

"Usually we stop those waves every 15-20 minutes to make sure the water's calmed down...and to see what happened," said Hawkins.

Park officials said two of the three lifeguards watching the wave pool pulled the boy out of the pool and administered CPR to him before he was rushed off to St. Jerome Hospital where he died a short time later.

An investigation by Quebec provincial police and the coroner is currently underway to determine exactly how the boy drowned.

Dufour said the park will remain open throughout the investigation, but police have requested the closure of the wave pool.

"For now, we're collaborating with the Sûreté du Québec with their ongoing investigation," said Dufour. "They have asked us to maintain the wave pool closed for a short period for them to complete their investigation. We're following up closely with them."

The boy, whose name has not been released, was at the park on a Laval school field trip to celebrate the last day of classes before summer holidays.

Police said the French-language Laval school board is preparing a crisis team to help his classmates deal with the death.