Student drowns as 999 call missed

OWING to a 999 call being missed by operators, the emergency services arrived too late to save a student who had fallen in the Avon from drowning.

Once again it is at Bath, where 21 years old student Christopher Taylor had fallen into the Avon after being out celebrating the last of his exams last January.

Missed the call

It was at 4am in the morning when a passer-by saw him clinging to a tree and immediately telephoned the 999 emergency services, but two control room staff responsible for dispatching ambulances and officers missed the call, telling the inquest into the death that they could have been distracted doing paper-work.

It was five minutes later that the flashing light was noticed and the emergency services dispatched to the scene, but on arrival it was discovered that Christopher had been unable to hang on and was swept down river.

Swept down river

Luke Thompson heard Christopher calling for help and dashed over to where he was hanging onto a tree, so immediately called 999, but explained to the inquest that he was unable to get near enough to help as there were bushes and trees, but that Christopher was obviously getting weaker and weaker as his voice became slurred, then eventually the cold water took its toll and he let go and was swept down river. When the emergency team eventually arrived there was obviously nothing its people could do.

It was later in the day that an underwater team discovered the body and retrieved it from the river, with a post mortem revealing that the levels of alcohol in his blood could have affected his judgement causing him to fall into the river.

Five minutes delay

.The Coroner, Maria Voisin, wanted to know why there had been five minutes delay in dispatching the emergency services, and was told that the two control room staff did not know. Supervising Emergency Officer Dispatcher Pete Jennings told the inquest that he did not see the emergency flashing on his screen as he may have been doing paperwork at the time. Emergency Dispatcher, Hayley Deacon, told that she did not immediately see the flashing light on her screen because she may have been dealing with another incident.

This is the fourth incident reported in narrowboatworld concerning students drowning in the Avon in Bath, who had been out celebrating and falling into the river.  As a result a 850 yards fence was erected in an attempt to stop the deaths, but this drowning was away from the fence, which will likely now be extended.