Thursday July 5, 2007, 2:53 pm
Bercause of an acident,this poor child will never enjoy food again!

Thursday July 5, 2007, 3:13 pm
noted

Thursday July 5, 2007, 3:25 pm
Wasnit there any "one" adult watching this child in a pool environemtn?

Thursday July 5, 2007, 3:39 pm
Thank-you all.I never knew to watch of all things a drain in a kiddee pool.What a sad accident.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 3:50 pm
Noted & Crossposted

Thursday July 5, 2007, 4:09 pm
Noted. Oh my God. I had no idea. Thanks for the info

Thursday July 5, 2007, 4:13 pm
Well, again, someone didn't do their job. The drain cover should of been on and checked. Surly, in a public pool, everything should be checked before opening it to the public.....AND, why do you need 300 lb. pressure per square inch for a kiddie pool anyway! I feel so bad for Abigail and her family. This should of never happened.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 4:15 pm
Never would have thought of good story Jaki. People should be aware of this.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 4:40 pm
It's a good thing this is posted.NOW people will be more aware.
I believe all parents should be supervising of course although I am not sure they would have seen the vent or noticed.

NOW people can think aboit this ,take a look around first and hopefully the word wil be passed on.
This is truly sad .

Thursday July 5, 2007, 5:00 pm
Yes the drain cover should have been on, but there should have been an adult watching her as well. Parents that think it is alright to just leave their children unattended in or around water amazes me....

Thursday July 5, 2007, 5:24 pm
Drains are very dangerous - This came up about 10 years ago when a child's hair was caught in a drain and she was pulled into it and drowned. Despite repeated warnings about drains in articles, parents forget how dangerous they are, because most pools do not post anything about them at the pool as a reminder which I think would help. I talked with my kids about the drains because some kids are attracted to "play" around them and that is definitely a bad idea. Drains should be covered in some way to protect children, even adults who don't even think about the dangers of drains in pools. Noted/Forwarded.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 5:30 pm
I heard of this several years ago when my own kids were barely pre-teens . I saw a short clip about this danger on one of those Hollywood gossip shows of all places. I wondered then why the news press wasn't grabbing this and plastering it all over the front page of every newspaper. They talked about the same kind of "disembowelment" happeneing to a 13 year old girl, and a 9 year old boy drowning while his father struggled in vain to free him from the strong suction of the pool they were swimming in on vacation.

Such a horrible tragedy that could be avoided if the press would grab it and run with it! Why they don't, I still wonder.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 5:43 pm
thats terrible. poor girl.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 7:06 pm
what a horrible thing! aww poor girl.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 7:57 pm
My G-D. I prayed for her family and her-please do the same. Prayer and love helps.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 8:27 pm
Noted & Forwarded.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 9:23 pm
thats so sad pools are dangerous especially public ones where we must rely on other people for our safety.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 9:30 pm
it goes to show we can never be to watchful of our kids
its such a shame i nfeel for her and for her family my prayers are with her

Thursday July 5, 2007, 9:38 pm
I can't believe this is still happening. I read of a story like this 20 years ago. Someone removed the cover to the drain, and the club where this happened is denying responsibility. How typical. Legislation is still pending so this never happens to another person, child or adult. The legislators could have put an end to this stupidity years ago.
Excerpt: "Some pools have a safety vacuum cutoff which shuts down if someone is trapped. New drain covers which cost less than $50 can also help." Too late for this little girl.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 9:39 pm
Noted. Where were her parents? So sad for that poor little girl.

Thursday July 5, 2007, 10:21 pm
I'm glad Jennie B.mentioned about the hair, because that can happen sometimes even if the drain cover is on!! Children need to knownot to even go near the drain and WHY! This probably happened in the space of around 30secs. or less--as she was still conscious when she came up. She was apparently released when the intestine broke off in the drain. We don't know, but there was probably nothing a parent or lifeguard could have done, except 1) education in advance and 2) the absolute negligence ofthe pool owners!! So please be kind to the parents, I am sure they are beating up on themselves even if they could not have saved her once she got close to the drain!

Thursday July 5, 2007, 11:46 pm
Thank you Jakki.What a horrific story. As this has happened 170 other times,27 of them resulting in death you would think that more care would be taken.By the look of the footage even an adult would most likely be anchored by the pressure.Poor child I hope she adapts and can still enjoy her life despite her horrific situation.If a child was diving they would certainly drown.Let's hope this improves the laws and causes more safety measures to be implemented.

Friday July 6, 2007, 2:06 am
Oh my God thats horrific!! Poor child. I'm sure the parents could have done nothing to help in this situation to those people blaming them for not watching. Its easy to blaim in retrospect. She is a very brave girl...

Friday July 6, 2007, 4:56 am
noted

Friday July 6, 2007, 6:37 am
Noted

Friday July 6, 2007, 6:48 am
This has been noted and forwarded and I am praying for this little girl and her famiy!! Because some maintenace person was too lazy to replace the trap acovering, she will never live a happy and fulfilled life!!

Hugs,
Suzanne































22

Friday July 6, 2007, 7:17 am
I've been think about this tragedy that continues to happen year after year. They could attach a float to the drain. The float could be a floating dolphin or boat or whatever with a message on it saying don't go near the drain. The attachment to the float would make it impossible to sit on the drain. Of course, the drain would have to be one that is securely anchored in place. I read that most are screwed into place. The other option is to make the drains not flat, but rounded, like half a beach ball with holes in it. That would reduce the suction of anyone sitting on it. Or I thought of a third option and that is a cylinder shape with openings in the sides but none on the top. Someone could sit on the top of it, but there would be no suction. Either change the shape of the drain cover, or make a heavy barrier shape that would fit over the drain.

Friday July 6, 2007, 12:28 pm
Noted. The drain holes on pools have been a problem for a long time ~ it has just not been made common knowledge beacuse the manufacturers do not want to have to spend the money to upgrade them. They also try to keep from accepting responsibility when something like this happens. It is not always the fault of the parents or guardians ~ this can happen even with adult supervision. It is such a shame what happened to this poor little girl ~ my heart goes out to her and her family. Thank you for the story jakki - this does need to become common knowledge.

Friday July 6, 2007, 1:10 pm
NOTED.......THANKS JAKKI!!!!

Friday July 6, 2007, 3:42 pm
Wow, so sad.... I knew about the dangers of the drains in hot tubs (from the drownings about 10 years ago) but didn't realize pool drains were so powerful! I remember loving to sit on the bottom of the pool when I was a kid... we played "tea party" on the bottom all the time, but in the shallow end, guess we were lucky!!! Thank you for posting this. Noted.

Friday July 6, 2007, 8:57 pm
I don't think that any blame can be put on her parents, if they were at the pool ... and there is nothing in the article that says she was alone. You could be right at the side of the pool and what could you possibly do, if your child had sat on the drain. It would have happened in a nanosecond! Even if they had been in the water with her, holding her hand, with pressure that hard, they still wouldn't have been able to prevent the tragedy once she had sat on it. My hearts go out to the child and her family, but please, don't automatically blame the parents in this case.

Friday July 6, 2007, 11:56 pm
I also read a similar story years ago and also about a girl's hair being caught in one. We can never be too careful. What a tragic story!