https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/mum-five-drowned-unimaginable-walsall-33972121

There are some odd things about this story.

Lots of stories lately of people drowning in canals but they seem to avoid the obvious question which is, why didn’t they just stand up? And the channel depth of canals includes the silt layer which covers the actual bottom, which can make canals a few inches shallower in places. There’s a myth that silt deepens canals, when it does the opposite.

This story has been all over Facebook lately in the UK. Many people have commented asking why she didn’t just stand up, and that question got a lot of likes, but no actual answers.

  • yesman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 hours ago

    There are 10,000 plausible explanations for this, but I’m going to guess she was drunk. Maybe she hit her head when she fell in? If the people who recovered and examined her body say it’s not suspicious, maybe they know something you don’t?

    In the US for example, many newspapers won’t list suicide as a cause of death unless that detail is newsworthy.

    When the authorities say a death isn’t suspicious, but are vague about the cause, it might mean they’re trying to save the family some embarrassment.

  • unmagical@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    2 hours ago

    Oh we back on this shit again?

    You can drown in a couple inches of water. 3 feet deep is almost 20 times as much depth as you’d need to drown.

    • Puni@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      2 hours ago

      Then it’s a good thing I never said you can’t drown in a couple inches of water, now isn’t it? Do you not think it’s at least a little bit odd that she didn’t stand up in waist-deep water and the family isn’t questioning this?

      • unmagical@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 hours ago

        I don’t.

        When people fall they get stunned, maybe even break a rib or a leg, or get knocked out. There’s so many factors that can apply when you fall in a canal that can lead to your death. That’s a big part of why you shouldn’t fall in one.

        There’s also fluctuations in water level that can come on suddenly which is why you shouldn’t camp next to or spend a lot of time in them.

        Numerous people have responded to you asking the same question over and over and again and you just refuse to learn. Why is that?