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NauticalNoodle ,

well that article was exactly as awful as the headline sounds.

Forfaden ,

I work as a pool maintenance technician in Texas. There are laws that are pretty strict for public pools for anti-entrapment drains

From what I’ve been able to read and from what I’ve read from interviews, the pipe was like 6" wide and didn’t have a cover. I believe it was a wall return that she was sucked into. But it was plumbed backwards and so it was pulling water instead of pushing

I work with multiple river pumps and they’re frequently the biggest pumps in the pump room. So the water they return is at a pretty high flow rate and none of them have a cover on the pressure side. The ones I work with have multiple openings of an inch or two

But the main reason this happened was someone fucked up with plumbing the pump and used the discharge side for the pressure side. No idea how someone wouldn’t notice

I think I read that they didn’t disclose that they were renovating and adding a river. No idea why it wasn’t looked at either. So, so, so many levels of failure lead to this

bcgm3 ,

Dunno if it changes anything, but user224 posted this link elsewhere in this discussion, and it says the pipe was 30cm (almost a foot) in diameter – I’m no expert, but the photos in this and OP’s article seem to show an opening about that size to me. I only mention it because that seemed uncommonly large to me.

potpotato ,

That link is cancer

Waraugh ,

Blows my mind how neglectful parents are when their kids are in swimming pools. Always trying to find someone else to blame rather than their
lazy ass ‘set em up infront of the TV’ parenting style.

Drusas , (edited )

The worst is how common it is for them to leave their children by a pool and just assume that whatever random adults are around will be watching their kids.

Edit: I didn't say that's what happened here. Clearly, it's not. That doesn't change that what I said above is super common.

TheBraveSirRobbin ,

Did you read the article?

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back. Her body was inside of the motor when she had to be extracted," Nava continued at the time. "They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe. It was absolutely horrific.”

I’m a strong swimmer, and even if I was watching closely anything I did would have only put me in danger without helping her.

Say what you want about how long it took the parents to find the kid, maybe they were wrong, but the hotel is 100% responsible here. If it wasn’t this kid it would have been someone else, maybe an adult in which case what parents would you blame then?

Feliskatos ,

Corporations are psychopaths.

Sam_Bass ,

So vacuum pipes are not required to have grates installed on them? If not for peoples safety than to at least prevent trash clogs

brygphilomena ,

While there are significant regulations around intake pipes, including grates and/or having multiple intakes so that no single one can be completely obstructed to create a suction scenario where someone can be trapped, this particular pipe was found to be plumbed on the wrong side of the pump. It was sucking in water when it was supposed to be ejecting water.

This is serious for the hotel chain, franchisee, installer/contractor, and inspector. This had to fail so many checks to have occurred. It wasn’t a chance occurrence for someone to be sucked in and seriously harmed or killed with the way this was plumbed; it was a matter of time when someone was going to be seriously injured or killed.

Truly a tragedy, and I cannot for the life of me imagine the pain that family is going through right now.

Aeri ,
@Aeri@lemmy.world avatar

This is a “someone should go to jail” level of criminal negligence.

Silentiea ,
@Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

It’s manslaughter. You kill someone with a machine, even if you weren’t trying to, it’s right up there next to murder.

Daedskin ,

When I managed a pool, I remember the Virginia Graeme Baker act being something I was told about pretty early on; it was a prevalent enough of a thing that sometimes trying to start up my spa’s motor wouldn’t provide a clear enough suction, and the motor would shut off for safety. A properly managed pool should never have had this risk.

assassin_aragorn ,

Sorry, what the fuck. This is a complete failure on engineering controls and safety. A safety analysis on an industrial plant would find something like this to be a major safety vulnerability that needs several redundant safeguards.

Jesus fucking Christ.

interdimensionalmeme ,

Few few things in life get industrial plant level of analysis.

assassin_aragorn ,

We should really change that. Things would be so much safer if we applied this level of scrutiny for anything considering the public.

interdimensionalmeme ,

We would have a lot less then.

brygphilomena ,

Can you imagine being the inspector who missed this?

Reading a few articles. It sounds like this was inspected and passed before people got into the pool.

Skanky ,

Guts, by Chuck Palahniuk.

You’re welcome

Harold_Penisman ,
@Harold_Penisman@lemmy.world avatar

That was a good (and gross) read haha. Didn’t realize it was the Fight Club author until after.

stringere ,

Ah yes, the short story to make people feint.

screenrant.com/chuck-palahniuk-guts-story-73-peop…

AngryCommieKender ,

So a good manual for fencers and other swordsmen?

stringere ,

Touché

archomrade ,

Omg, is the last story they mention in that article based on a story I read on reddit once, where [CW Body Horror]

!where someone sits on a pool drain and has their intestines sucked out of their rectum?!<

I remember someone saying it happened to a young girl that ended up dying from it, and it’s still one of the most horrific things I’ve ever heard. I don’t even care if they plagiarized it from that book, I carry that anxiety with me to every pool I go to.

brygphilomena ,

Her name was Abigail Taylor. She was 6.

Truly a heart-wrenching story. https://abbeyshope.org/abbeys-story/

D1G17AL ,

Delta P is a scary phenomenon. Who else watched that terrifying video with the far too cheerful narrator?

HappycamperNZ ,

When its got you…

qevlarr ,
@qevlarr@lemmy.world avatar

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/745633a3-3b39-482a-a527-10514eb72742.jpeg

When it got ya, it’s gotcha

lennybird , (edited )
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

That poor child… And those poor ems workers who had to dig out her little body…

I tagged along with my wife for a pool day at her friend’s house with our kids. I was swimming along near the wall of the pool when my foot was violently pulled into the vaccuum line. Really spooked me. It’s code for those suction lines to have a spring-loaded cover. This one didn’t. I luckily freed my foot and went to check the valves on the pump. All suction was routed to the vacuum line, none to skimmer.

Some expensive pumps have an anti-entrapment system but most do not.

I warned her to get that shit fixed ASAP…

For commercial pools of this scale, there’s just no chance to resist.

I own a pool now and I take all that shit very seriously. You don’t mess around with water.

Passerby6497 ,

I still have nightmares from being a kid in a pool and getting stuck with my face basically at the water line because of something like that.

parpol ,

I used to have nightmares of this happening to me when I was a kid. It made me scared of all sewage pipes and openings underwater. Once I grew older I figured I was just a stupid kid with a wild imagination, but I now realize it was my human instinct telling me that shit is dangerous, and avoiding it was the right move.

tamal3 ,

“Are you afraid of the dark” gave me similar fears for years.

problematicPanther ,
@problematicPanther@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you for reminding me of my nightmare fuel.

tamal3 ,

No joke, I wouldn’t step on the shower drain until I was at least a pre-teen.

lnxtx ,
@lnxtx@feddit.nl avatar

Happy cake day!

foggy ,

There was a story on this shit on 60 minutes in the 90s. Maybe chronicle. Idk. Stories about people having their intestines ripped out of their assholes.

Horrifying shit.

Apparently not a universally solved issue?

Timecircleline ,

Chuck Palahniuk-Guts

SeaJ ,

I could not finish Haunted.

damnedfurry ,

Yeah, I thought shit like this was far behind us and all settled, not a problem anymore, etc., what the fuck.

Chip_Rat ,

I was maybe 6 when I saw the same 60 minutes show. Terrified me. Mom got mad at dad for not noticing I was watching with horrified eyes beside the side of the couch.

unmagical ,

Regardless of whether or not the parents were around the ability for a body to be forcibly pulled into the machinery is an obvious failure in operating a safe pool.

Wogi ,

It’s a failure on a number of levels, failure to maintain a safe pool, AND failure to maintain a safe working environment.

And honestly the employee refusing to review security footage until the police showed up when a child was missing with the fuck?

InternetCitizen2 ,

The kind of employee that asks “is this right for the company” before doing anything.

Yawweee877h444 ,

Yeah maybe but it could also be someone desparate in a shitty low pay job who is afraid of getting fired. Just saying, not enough info

ObviouslyNotBanana ,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Tbh I’d want to avoid being traumatised too

madcaesar ,

That just sounds like “I was only following orders!” a child is missing FFS, look at the footage and fuck the corporation.

kandoh ,

Yeah, even if you’re half starved and are certain the company will retaliate… That’s still a little child. You’ve got to take the hit.

user224 ,
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I found more info here (news.com.au).
Also shows image of the pipe and:

“[It] appears right now the pump was put in there, and it was probably malfunctioning because of the open pipe that she ended up in was supposed to be pushing water out.”

lennybird , (edited )
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Fuck sake that was a hard read. That poor mother. I can’t even comprehend the purpose of that pipe. They describe it as a lazy river so I’m assuming it’s some sort of equalizer pipe to the other side. Water flows in one direction around the pool and I think what they’re saying is the flow of the river was reversed for whatever reason. There would be quite a strong amount of suction through there, even if it wasn’t a direct intake line to the pump.

Edit: oh this is old news, months old. Looks like it was indeed an outlet:

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back. Her body was inside of the motor when she had to be extracted," he said. "They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe. It was absolutely horrific.”

Pump’s flow was reversed for whatever reason.

Elsewhere I read the pump actually did have an entrapment system engaged and shut off, but by the time she blocked the pipe and sensors detected the obstruction, she was already wedged 20 feet into the pipe.

Duamerthrax ,

This has been a known problem for decades. I remember watching videos about it on Discovery channel back when they still ran education content. One case, a person had their intestines sucked out.

The solution has always been to have multiple intakes for the suction line and have the kill switch in clear view of the pool.

Eatspancakes84 ,

Newer pools have the water intake all around the pool rather than a suction valve at the bottom/side.

Duamerthrax ,

You can also retrofit old pools with a wider, domed intake screens.

JudahBenHur ,

right? thats all this takes.

bitchkat ,

Did you read the one where a guy stuck is weiner in a pipe and it got stuck and then engorged.

brygphilomena ,

The delta-p videos are wild. The most popular being a crab sucked through a crack in a pipe, not a hole, but a crack no more than mm or two wide.

Rai ,

And there this excellent short story!

Omegamanthethird ,
@Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world avatar

I saw that on one of the Final Destination movies. I had no idea it could actually happen.

bcgm3 , (edited )

You can say that again. Growing up in Florida, I’ve been in a lot of swimming pools and water parks, and I have never seen anything like what is shown in the video attached to this article. That opening is huge. user224’s link says the pipe is 30cm (almost a foot) in diameter. Even in giant public pools I’ve been in, I can’t recall seeing an opening or fixture that size. That, coupled with a lack of any cover on it, seems so obviously dangerous. God, what an awful way to go.

lennybird , (edited )
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Seems like litigation is still ongoing but most recent articles I’ve read state that pump was either recently repaired or replaced, and flow was in the wrong direction. If it was outflow, nobody could swim in there if they wanted to (but if it was off, a small child still could, so a grate still should’ve been on there). They suspect hole was installed later to probably align with flow requirements for the new pump.

Hobbes ,

My submechaniphobia is at an 11 right now, and this further confirms for me that’s it’s not really a phobia but a real legit fear.

Delta P: youtu.be/AEtbFm_CjE0?si=OYBw9OAxFPgxAM2m

jeena ,
@jeena@piefed.jeena.net avatar

Same thing happened to my fiancés coworkers kid. The pipe sucked his arm in and got his head under water. They couldn't get him out so they needed to wait until all water from the pool was drained. It was their only kid and already 12 or so.

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

Hey now! You can’t just leave it like that. Was the kid ok?

jeena ,
@jeena@piefed.jeena.net avatar

Oh, I'm sorry I left it out, no, sadly he did not survive.

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

Damn. I was hoping you would t say that. As a dad myself, I could t think of know a worse thing to happen — especially since one of my greatest fears is to die via drowning or suffocation. That breaks my heart for that family.

SpaceNoodle ,

Wow I’m impressed he could hold his breath that long

jeena ,
@jeena@piefed.jeena.net avatar

I'm afraid no, he drowned.

crystalmerchant ,

Shittttt this is horrible. Is it possible to get someone stuck in this situation a pipe to breathe through or something??

jeena ,
@jeena@piefed.jeena.net avatar

I was also thinking about that but I guess he was already dead when they found him under water.

TheBraveSirRobbin ,

My guess would be that the first attempt to rescue would usually be to turn off the filter and / or attempt to jump in and pull them out. I would think by the point anyone would think of and be able to access something to breathe through it would be too late.

This is all speculation on my point though, idk

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