A boy who nearly drowned in the Lansford Community Pool on Wednesday afternoon is doing well, according to police.

The 8-year-old boy, identified only as Alex, was swimming underwater in the shallow section of the pool when witnesses say he began to float lifelessly.Contacted this morning, the pool manager declined to comment at this time.According to a report filed by the Lansford Police Department, at 2:38 p.m., police responded to assist with a reported drowning.Officers assisted the lifeguards and other pool personnel in providing aid to the victim.The boy was taken to the Emergency Department at St. Luke's Miners Campus in Coaldale, where he was transported by PennStar Helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.Reports differ on exactly what happened.Kaitlin Sturdik, 12, said she was in the pool when the boy became unconscious."Me and my two friends saw him floating there and then the lifeguard told us to pull him out. We saw that his lips were purple," Sturdik said.When Alex was pulled out of the pool, the lifeguard on duty panicked and said he did not know CPR.Randa Kehl, a certified nurses aide, who happened to be at the pool, gave the boy CPR and restored breathing.All certified lifeguards are required by law to know how to perform CPR."The lifeguards didn't know what they were doing. If there was no one there who knew CPR, (Alex) would have died," Kehl said.According to Kehl, the boy suffered trauma but was breathing steadily when he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital."The whole ordeal was very unprofessional. The lifeguards should have pulled him out of the pool, not 12-year-old kids," Pat Ladick said, who took Kaitlin and her friends to the pool that day.Lansford Mayor James Romankow posted a message on Facebook Wednesday evening, "I would like to say great job by the lifeguards in their quick response in getting the individual out of the pool. The assistant manager who quickly took over the control of the situation. The Lansford police for their quick response. The crew of the helicopter told us everyone did a fantastic job.""There will be a statement released in the next couple of days from the police as we look into the matter. Keep in mind the lifeguards that (were) working are teenagers. And in situation like that you can get panicked."I ask people to wait before passing judgment on anyone," he wrote in his post.Several people took to Facebook to post their opinions on the matter.Michael Roccheti posted, "My 12-year-old niece is the one who pulled the boy out of the pool, and she is still in shock from it."Andi Houtsch posted, "Here's the truth of the matter as told to us by the girls who actually pulled the boy from the pool. These girls and Patricia Ladick are related to my son so this is straight from the source. Kaitlyn said she and her friends were standing by the lifeguard station and saw the boy having difficulties. They told the lifeguard who passed it off as 'oh they're just playing' and proceeded to ignore the situation until the boy sank to the bottom. At that point the girls again raised the alarm and the lifeguard told them to get in and pull him out. At that point the lifeguard panicked and ran to get a first aid kit."Betty Dolly posted, "I was there and the lifeguard told my niece and her friends to jump in and get the boy at first he did not jump in the water until he saw that the boy was blue and limp in my niece's arms."Tina Marie Frets was also at the pool Wednesday. She said, "We all need to be open-minded in knowing that the majority of the lifeguards are 'barely legal' but meet the required age to perform such a serious job. It was a very serious situation, and it is easy to point fingers at what could have been done. However, unless faced with a lifeless child in front of you it's hard to know how you would react and 'freezing or forgetting' in a situation like that is very possible. It was a very scary situation for all involved and thank God the child is going to be OK."Dylan Messerschmidt alsocontributed to this report.