Victims caught in souse-hole

KUALA LUMPUR: The drownings at a mining pool, which claimed the lives of a teenager and six firefighters, were caused by a vortex produced by the cascading waters from the weir, said a former swiftwater rescue instructor.

Carl Traeholt, who conducted courses for the bomba training centre in Kuala Kubu Baru, Hulu Sela­ngor, in the late 1990s, said cascading waters from the weir’s ledge causes surface water to flow back upwards, forming a spinning vortex which can pull objects into its centre.

“This is called a ‘souse-hole’, which keeps pulling a trapped victim back into the froth until they drown,” he said.

Though the downstream areas of the weir at the Taman Putra Per­dana lake may be shallow, the concrete ledge of the weir is built straight across a waterway outlet, creating a parallel cascade of water spanning both sides of the banks with no escape routes at the sides.

“The biggest danger associated with these types of weirs are that they look ‘innocent’, yet are death traps to novices,” said Traeholt, who is now Copenhagen Zoo’s South-East Asia conservation prog­ramme director.

“An expert rescuer can get out of it, provided he is fit and not panicked. The move requires one to remove any floating devices, move towards the bottom and follow the current out.”

Traeholt, a white-water kayak instructor accredited by the Ame­rican Canoe Association since 1996, conducted dozens of swift water rescue courses when he was running a whitewater outfit in Kuala Kubu Baru.

He said in emergency situations, a weir must be approached from downstream in a raft or boat by teams standing by on each bank.

Rescue efforts should also be carried out by only one person and he must be anchored to the rest of the team stationed at the banks. This is so when the rescuer gets into trouble, he can be pulled to safety.

“A big no-no is to tie rescuers together as it puts everyone at risk and the chances of getting entangled with the rope are higher,” he said.

Another tip, Traeholt added, is to float when in swift current.

“Also, avoid walking in these situation as there is a high risk of feet getting stuck in debris,” he said.- Star