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The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

theguardian.com

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Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#21

Post by sandworm101 »

klelatti wrote: post #20

> Once someone is reported to be in the water, invariably they must wait for the body to pop up. Not quite invariably. The river police do rescue people who find themselves in the Thames. A couple of years ago I was walking between Southwark Bridge and Cannon Street Railway Bridge in the early evening when I noticed a group of people pointing towards something bobbing up and down in the middle of the river, in very t…

Slipped and fell into water in town. Cannot remember what happened. Struggling to swim. There is an old joke about most drowning victims being found with their fly undone. Alcohol near water is never a good idea.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#22

Post by mathieuh »

veunes wrote: post #13

I was surprised to know that you can swim in the Thames. There are a number of designated swimming spots along the Thames, where it is safer to swim. These spots are usually located in areas with calmer water and less boat traffic.

I wouldn’t swim in any bodies of water in the UK at the moment, there’s a massive scandal with the privatised sewage companies paying massive dividends to shareholders while neglecting the infrastructure and repeatedly dumping raw sewage straight into waterways.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#23

Post by klelatti »

sandworm101 wrote: post #21
klelatti wrote: post #20

> Once someone is reported to be in the water, invariably they must wait for the body to pop up. Not quite invariably. The river police do rescue people who find themselves in the Thames. A couple of years ago I was walking between Southwark Bridge and Cannon Street Railway Bridge in the early evening when I noticed a group of people pointing towards something bobbing up and down in the middle of the river, in very t…

Slipped and fell into water in town. Cannot remember what happened. Struggling to swim. There is an old joke about most drowning victims being found with their fly undone. Alcohol near water is never a good idea.

Very likely. Took place at around 8pm so post work drinks that got out of hand.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#24

Post by zabzonk »

wirrbel wrote: post #14
veunes wrote: post #13

I was surprised to know that you can swim in the Thames. There are a number of designated swimming spots along the Thames, where it is safer to swim. These spots are usually located in areas with calmer water and less boat traffic.

I grew up swimming in our local river. Obviously the river Thames is a different kind of beast with currents, etc. However I nowadays would be very reluctant for swimming in rivers as soon as one is downstream of a sewer leading into the waters. Furthermore the river I swam in is downstream of an area that industrially was heavily involved in galvanics. While the water itself is clean, who knows what heavy metals are…

i worked for a university of london microbiology department in the early 80s, and one of my least favourite tasks was to go down to the thames (i used steps outside the national theatre) and get a couple of litres of river water for the students to experiment with. jesus, you would not believe the bacterial load in there! but i believe things have got better since then.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#25

Post by taneq »

wirrbel wrote: post #14
veunes wrote: post #13

I was surprised to know that you can swim in the Thames. There are a number of designated swimming spots along the Thames, where it is safer to swim. These spots are usually located in areas with calmer water and less boat traffic.

I grew up swimming in our local river. Obviously the river Thames is a different kind of beast with currents, etc. However I nowadays would be very reluctant for swimming in rivers as soon as one is downstream of a sewer leading into the waters. Furthermore the river I swam in is downstream of an area that industrially was heavily involved in galvanics. While the water itself is clean, who knows what heavy metals are…

Never drink from a river that’s downstream of farm land (without thoroughly boiling the water), either. You might be thinking ‘yeah, cows and sheep poop outside’ but they also sometimes wander off, die and leave their rotting corpses in the stream.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#26

Post by WilTimSon »

closewith wrote: post #11
WilTimSon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a rather prevalent belief, perhaps even a subconscious one, among people that suicide by leaping into a body of water is the go-to method. Probably doesn't help that it's been shown in media a lot, probably only below hanging and, perhaps, wrist-slitting. Anecdotally, at least 5 or 6 people that I've spoken to when discussing some grim news regarding events like these had the impression that suicide by water…

I'm a member of a maritime SAR unit and when rescued, people who have deliberately entered the water often say they didn't want to be found by their family or found at all.

That is tragic, I didn’t even know about that aspect but it, sadly, makes sense within a suicidal person’s logic.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#27

Post by bookofjoe »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #17
closewith wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Ireland, reporting on specific suicide events is almost completely absent as the effect is so dramatic.

Same with rioting in the north of Ireland. I grew up near a hotspot in Belfast and violence often went unreported to avoid the situation growing worse or spreading to other areas.

As a resident of the U.S. I always wonder once the headlines of the latest mass shooting appear if such events would be less frequent if they were never reported in the news.

By definition that's something that would be impossible to know.

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#28

Post by pixxel »

taneq wrote: post #25
wirrbel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up swimming in our local river. Obviously the river Thames is a different kind of beast with currents, etc. However I nowadays would be very reluctant for swimming in rivers as soon as one is downstream of a sewer leading into the waters. Furthermore the river I swam in is downstream of an area that industrially was heavily involved in galvanics. While the water itself is clean, who knows what heavy metals are…

Never drink from a river that’s downstream of farm land (without thoroughly boiling the water), either. You might be thinking ‘yeah, cows and sheep poop outside’ but they also sometimes wander off, die and leave their rotting corpses in the stream.

> Never drink from a river that’s downstream of farm land

This. More so I’d be concerned about pesticides (arable).

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#29

Post by pixxel »

jayceedenton wrote: post #5
Vecr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the archive at https://archive.is/Q8tZB before or after they did that?

It's before! A couple I noticed (sorry, not at a computer right now): > Only with decomposition will they begin to float. > “There have been people that have jumped off Dartford Bridge and ended up in central London. Completely unnecessary edits if you ask me.

Dartford is downstream?

Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river

#30

Post by flir »

willyt wrote: post #10

The river police and the transport police have a pretty traumatic job in London. But the RNLI, also mentioned in the article, is the maritime search and rescue service for the UK. It’s completely funded by charitable donations and most of the crew are unpaid volunteers; anyone can volunteer. Edit, submitted before finished: At many other towns and cities around the UK which don’t have specialist police units like thi…

> the RNLI, also mentioned in the article, is the maritime search and rescue service for the UK

HM Coastguard.

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