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·
    5 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.