U.S. and Canadian safety regulators have ordered a sweeping recall of more than 5.2 million above-ground swimming pools after nine children drowned in incidents linked to the products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada said the recalled Bestway, Intex Recreation and Polygroup pools—sold since 2002 and measuring 48 inches or taller—feature exterior compression straps that can act as footholds, allowing young children to climb into the water unsupervised. Roughly five million of the pools were sold in the United States through major retailers including Walmart, Target, Lowe’s, Costco and Amazon, while about 266,000 were distributed in Canada. The reported fatalities occurred in six U.S. states between 2007 and 2022 and involved children aged 22 months to three years. Three additional non-fatal incidents were also documented. Consumers are urged to prevent unsupervised access to the pools, drain them if necessary, and contact the manufacturers for a free repair kit that replaces the compression strap with a safety rope. The companies said they are working with regulators to retrofit all affected models and stressed that no related deaths have been reported in Canada.