A swimming pool at a private estate in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley has been ordered to close immediately after a lifeguard allegedly used a fake certificate, with the case also being reported to police.

The incident came to light on Friday after the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department last month implemented a raft of measures to prevent the employment of unqualified lifeguards at private swimming pools.

The department checked a batch of lifeguard records with the Hong Kong China Life Saving Society that day and found that the credentials of an attendant who was on duty earlier in the week at the swimming pool in San Francisco Towers did not match official records.

“As the qualification of the life-saving attendant is in doubt and the swimming pool has allegedly failed to provide a sufficient number of qualified life-saving attendants as required by law, the department has ordered the immediate closure of the pool and is considering prosecuting its licensee,” the department said on Friday evening.

“The incident has been reported to police, and the [department] has also notified the Property Management Services Authority to take parallel follow-up action.”

San Francisco Towers is a high-end, two-block private estate on 29-35 Ventris Road.