Drowning case mystifies swimming pool designers
The Star 2/8/2005 BY ELSA CHEAH

PETALING JAYA: Swimming pool designers are mystified by the incident in which a young girl drowned after her leg was trapped in a drainage hole.

“It is a rare case. I have not come across such a case before,” said Mohd Varkkey Abdullah, a former swimming pool designer and builder.

Eight-year-old Bianca Thio Yee Shen drowned after her left leg was trapped in a drainage hole at the 1.2m end of a swimming pool at the Kelana Mahkta condominium here on Saturday.

The Year Two pupil of SRJK Yuk Chai and her family were in the pool with 20 other residents when the incident happened.


OBSERVING SILENCE: Students of SRJK Yuk Chai joining their teachers in a one- minute silence in memory of their schoolmate Bianca( inset) during the morning assembly on monday.
The police have since cordoned off the pool.

Normally, said Mohd Varkkey, there would be a grapping (cage to cover the drainage hole).

He said that from pictures in the newspapers, one of the drainage holes in the swimming pool had a grapping but that in which Bianca's leg was trapped did not.

A project manager of an engineering company K.W. Wong doubted if the suction of the drainage hole led to the girl's death.

Wong, of Wallen Engineering and Trading, said the drainage suction would not be strong enough to pull in a human.

He said there are usually a few drainage holes in a swimming pool, which split up the pressure.

“A swimming pool also has a filter and the chances of big object such as a human leg or hand, being sucked in are slim.

A representative of Asiapools (M) Sdn Bhd, a swimming pool contract company, said: “I don’t think anyone would leave a drainage hole uncovered. Maybe, it was broken.”

Meanwhile, Kelana Mahkota condominium developer SMI City Home Sdn Bhd said they would investigate the accident.

Its manager Matthew Ng said their project consultants had also offered to help in police investigations.

Asked if the company would compensate Bianca's family, he said: “Our prime concern now is the investigation.”