An 8-year-old girl was sucked into a swimming pool pipe at a Hilton hotel. The management company blamed her parents

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 426 points –
Management blames parents for 8-year-old getting sucked into pool pipe at hotel
independent.co.uk
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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.

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?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

β€œ[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.”

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:

β€œHer 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.