Three teenagers were killed when their car skidded off the road in southern France, went through a wall and crashed upside down in a private pool, trapping them inside.
The vehicle was a similar size to the pool and the teenagers - aged 14, 15 and 19 - were unable to open the doors and drowned.
Tragic, but also preventable probably:
Unconfirmed reports suggest the youngest of the three victims was at the wheel of the car at the time.
Canisters of nitrous oxide were found in the car, according to French reports. The substance is used by recreational users as it can make people feel relaxed, light-headed or dizzy.
That’s some final destination shit.
Fuck. That’s fucking awful.
unable to open the doors and drowned
If you find yourself in a car sinking in water, conserve your energy because the doors will not open until your cabin is submerged. Take a deep breath at the last second that you can (you will need it) and wait until you are fully underwater to try to open the doors. This may not have been possible with the shallowness of the pool in the above news story. There are also specialized tools for breaking car windows that you can keep in your glove compartment for emergencies.
the car was the size of the swimming pool, and upside down, so they had no chance to exit it
None of this helps you if there are concrete pool walls keeping the doors from opening
Wtf Does anyone have an idea on how to exit in such a situation?
The story notes that the pool was near in size to the car. That would mean that, regardless of water pressure, you wouldn’t be able to open the doors. My next try would be the windows but it’s possible that it was such a tight fit that they wouldn’t be able to get out the windows either.
My next option would be to pull down the back seat, exit into the trunk, and use the interior trunk release to exit the trunk. However, that also may not have worked, depending on whether the car’s weight was on the trunk (preventing you from exiting the trunk), or whether there was enough room along the back or sides of the trunk (preventing you from making your way to the surface).
My final option would be to try to kick out the windshield and exit there. I’m sure many people would try it earlier; my assumptions are that the weight of the engine would be holding the front of the car closer to the bottom of the pool; that momentum carried the front of the car close to/into the edge of the pool, limiting space to exit that way; that front airbags may make the exit awkward; and that a possibly shattered windshield and crumpled front of the car make exiting through the windshield a more dangerous route.
Other than those options, I’m not sure what you could do.
they finished upside down in a small swimming pool, so really no way out
I don’t think there is a trunk release inside french cars
In this case there was no way to exit as the car was upside down in a swimming pool that was the same size
What kind of asshole builds a swimming pool the size of that car
There likely was no possible way for then to get out of the car. If they wanted to survive, their best bet would have been to not skid off a road and go through a fence.
Only thing I can think of while sitting comfortably at the keyboard and not in that car panicking is to kick out the windshield and hope you can swim under and out after the water rushes in. If the car is resting at the bottom and that’s blocked… no, I can’t think of one. I don’t imagine cars are very airtight, especially since they drowned, so there must not have been an air pocket for them to last a few hours.
Maybe through the front or back windshield, but given that the pool and car were of very similar size (diameter), I don’t think there was a way. They were dead the moment they hit the water. They just didn’t know it yet.
It’s very very very unlikely/next to impossiblr that you are able to destroy the front window in a modern car - even with tools that takes time and skill
With a back window you might have more luck,depending on the car,at least with a center punch tool, you might have a better chance - but that requires you to be able to a) be alert and uninjured enough to do so b) find your way there in total darkness, wrong orientation,etc. c) manage to apply the right amount of force.
Source: Am a paramedic,have to destroy windows once a year for our training with the firies, additionally have done “total submersion” training once. (Basically the same as what happend here. You get into a car,this car get spun on the roof, then slid down nto a pool/lake - with the difference that you have space on all sides, there is a rescue diver with you in the car and another two are next to it. It is still a fucking nightmare and MUCH worse than what I used to do to work on the helicopter - their HUET was much easier.
Good to know. I thought windshields were designed to pop off in one piece which is why I thought it’d be a possibility.
They very rarely do these days. Even less when under pressure (e.g. when the car is on it’s roof).
I am a fairly big guy and never managed to do so.
Well, it appears that they were doing drugs and letting the 14 year old drive.
That’s still to be confirmed, but the articles states there were empty NO2 cans in the car and due to positions it looks like the 14 year old was driving.
But if you are going to be driving around on drugs, I don’t have sympathy for you.
Canisters of nitrous oxide were found in the car, according to French reports. The substance is used by recreational users as it can make people feel relaxed, light-headed or dizzy.
So? NOX doesn’t give teens the ability to flip cars into.perfectly car sized pools, nor does it justify a death sentence. They could have been sober and on a way to a party, or something. What a bullshit thing to include in the article.
It does add some context as to why they crashed. The fact that the youngest child was driving is another.
Doesn’t make them deserving of such an end, however the freakish nature of it is somebody diminished. It would be somewhat more tragic had they decided to adhere to basic road safety precautions.
It’s odd that this should need to be pointed out, but allow me help. The line was added to suggest it is a possible DUI. Driving under the influence of drugs is generally recognized as a contributing factor to accidents.
People are always looking to blame anyone but the pool. If we don’t hold them accountable, they won’t stop.
