Thai girl’s arm saved from pool pipe nightmare in Si Racha

A village in Si Racha, Chon Buri witnessed a terrifying life-threatening ordeal when a young Thai girl found herself stuck in a swimming pool drainage pipe.

The Sriracha Rescue Unit raced to the scene at Pornthep Village just after 5.30pm last Sunday, November 3 where a young girl’s left arm had become wedged in a powerful suction pipe, pulling water into the pool’s filtration system. Rescuers faced a daunting mission as the child clung to her father, crying in fear.

A witness, 60 year old Praman Sangwirun, described the chilling moment he realised what had happened.

“She had put her arm into the pipe. It was only about 1.5 inches wide but the suction was strong.”

A cover was missing from the pipe, leaving it exposed, a likely cause of the accident, according to local officials.

The rescue operation required intense teamwork and precision. Rescuers had to drain more than half the pool’s water to gain access to the embedded pipe.

Armed with an electric drill, they painstakingly broke apart the concrete surrounding the pipe and cut into the PVC section trapping the young girl’s arm. Residents and the village chief rallied to help, scooping water from the pool by hand to speed up the drainage.

After two hours of gruelling work, the rescuers carefully removed the child’s arm along with the pipe still attached. They then freed her arm from the pipe and rushed the Thai girl to the hospital for medical assessment.

Sangwirun praised the rescuers’ dedication.

“They did everything possible to free her.”

Police emphasised the importance of secure drainage covers to prevent similar mishaps, urging pool owners to regularly inspect and maintain equipment to ensure children’s safety, reported Pattaya Mail.

In related news, the search for a missing South African teacher has ended in tragedy after her body was discovered following a swimming pool-related incident.