Of all the possible swimming spots, a river is the one most fraught with mortal danger!
The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
31–40 of 46 posts
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Several sites withhold the shooters name, because often times a quest for notoriety is a goal for them. Denying this potentially removes some incentive.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#33> 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.
Most paths along the Thames have no walls or fences, it's straight into the water.
There are also bridges with very low side walls. It's not too difficult to imagine someone losing their footing or tripping and going "overboard", especially at night on the way home from the pub...
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
I thought the same thing. Of course it is downstream, but I think this is why the person mentioned it: because the journey is surprising.
They're saying that powerful tidal currents caused someone that entered the water at Dartford to end up in central London. A very unexpected result.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Love that season of the Wire. I'm from rural Ireland and there is a body of water near my home that is a suicide hotspot - 2 towns on the same river have given their share of young men to it unfortunately.
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…
Many cases also involve leaping from a tall bridge which raises the odds somewhat of a fast and painless death.
My anecdotal experience of such events is two fold... One time I actually considered doing this but when it came to it I realised that, no matter how hopeless my situation seemed at the time, I am an optimist at heart and jumping off a bridge isn't something I'm ever going to actually do.
Secondly, same bridge a few years later, I encountered someone contemplating a jump and tried to talk him out of it. Relating the above and pointing out that life had turned OK after all didn't do much to dissuade him. Convincing people not to do it is not as easy as one may imagine. I soon figured that everything I said was just making matters worse.
Anyway, thankfully, I manged to flag down a passing ambulance and they were able to handle the situation much more calmly, he didn't jump.
One of the paramedics told me not to be hard on myself for not coping so well, she said the ones who are going to jump just do it. The less committed are playing the idea through, like I was, and are hoping for some kind of intervention to help them out of their current mindset.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#36The 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.
HM Coastguard and the RNLI do different roles though - the former is more about co-ordination amongst different rescue agencies and the RNLI runs lifeboats.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the RNLI, also mentioned in the article, is the maritime search and rescue service for the UK HM Coastguard.
HM Coastguard and the RNLI do different roles though - the former is more about co-ordination amongst different rescue agencies and the RNLI runs lifeboats.
mm. The loss of the RNLI would leave a major hole. More details for anyone who is interested: https://hmcoastguard.uk/news/whos-who-search-and-rescue-your...
But i still maintain HMCG best fits the description "the maritime search and rescue service for the UK". I mean, if you call RNLI with an emergency they'll tell you to hang up and dial 999.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
HM Coastguard and the RNLI do different roles though - the former is more about co-ordination amongst different rescue agencies and the RNLI runs lifeboats.
mm. The loss of the RNLI would leave a major hole. More details for anyone who is interested: https://hmcoastguard.uk/news/whos-who-search-and-rescue-your... But i still maintain HMCG best fits the description "the maritime search and rescue service for the UK". I mean, if you call RNLI with an emergency they'll tell you to hang up and dial 999.
I suppose being the UK there would never be easy answers to questions like that....
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#39I live next to Baltimore and somewhat frequently you hear about a body fished out of the Inner Harbor. Just like in The Wire. Though I’m sure every city on a body of water experiences the same thing.
Chicago for sure. Both river and lake. I have seen a couple myself be retrieved.
Re: The cruel Thames: the job of pulling bodies from a dark, dangerous river
#40Water is much trickier than many people realize. I live on the Delaware River, near where Washington made his famous crossing. The river here is very shallow and looks deceptively peaceful.
Yet people die on this stretch every year, even experienced kayakers who let their guard down. What generally happens is someone falls out of their kayak / tube / whatever, and their feet get caught in a snag in the bottom. The river current is enough to force them under water.
Most places around here will no longer rent water equipment if the river is running high and fast, yet some foolish people manage to go out and die.
But not sure what the answer is for people falling in from the banks or bridges. Comprehensive fencing is expensive and ugly.