'Sewer Boy' Survives Five-Hour Nightmare

Reuters via IWon.com ^ | 6-13-2002

[Cagey]

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian teenager was recovering in hospital on Wednesday after a surviving a five-hour nightmare in a subterranean river of filth and human waste.

Officials were surprised that Christopher Watt, 15, was still breathing after being swept away by a foul brew of bathwater, river runoff and human waste after gaining access on Monday evening to a 1,320-mile labyrinth of sewer pipes under Ottawa.

"The sewer was full of sanitary sewage -- what comes out of your house and my house through the kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, and toilets. All that lovely stuff that we don't like," said Pat McNally, director of utility services for Ottawa, who dubbed the teen "Sewer Boy."

Watt's friends ran to his home where relatives called the police. After estimating his approximate location, rescue workers donned air tanks and waded into the reeking blackness, not expecting to find him alive.

"At first reports that somebody's gone down that sewer and disappeared, I wouldn't have said his chances were that good. He was in an environment that we normally take a number of precautions before we enter into," said McNally.

But after slogging through several sewer pipes along the route, rescuers heard Watt's cries for help. They used inflatable boats to fish him out of the sewer about five hours after he fell in. The boy underwent decontamination and was taken to hospital.

Officials suspect Watt might have gone into the sewer on a dare.

"He was in a nine-foot diameter pipe that was fortunately only flowing at about three feet full. He was a very fortunate young man," McNally added.

[KantianBurke]

decontamination? shudder!

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

This story is full of crap.......it stinks I tell ya.......what a waste of paper........

[Cagey]

Having a 15 year old boy is always an "Adventure".

[olivia3boys]

My brothers used to sneak into sewers when they were teenagers. Maybe that's something teenage boys just feel compelled to do. I can't wait to see what my 3 boys come up with when they are teenagers.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

An adventure huh? Well, having a girl is no picnic......lol

[nothingnew]

This is what happens when you squeeze a roll of "CHARMIN" three times!!!..."Don't squeeze the "Charmin"!!"

FMCDH

[alloysteel]

Seems like this happens all the time on South Park. Did the lad meet Mr. Hankie-Poo down there?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Or maybe he met Jean ValJean from Les Miserables.

[LibWhacker]

In my eyes, Bill Clinton will always be the one and only 'Sewer Boy.'

[tracer]

Nuts. I thought this was yet another Kennedy thread....

[tracer]

You definitely are on a roll. You really must be wiped out by now.....

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Thanks! I have been accused of having a potty mouth, of being a sh#t disturber, and was often called a little stinker by my Father - but this boy in the article was really "up sh#t creek without a paddle"........

[chs68]

What a dilemma for me.

I simply can't decide if this thread is number one or number two on my list of all time favorites.

[Hacksaw]

How would you feel if your nickname was "Sewr Boy"? :)

[tracer]

If you're geting too flushed, you always can fudge it. Just don't forget to log out.....

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

(Flushed, log out.....lol......good ones......)

Well, what with the rain and the 58 degrees out, this day is going down the crapper -

[Calvin Locke]

The sewer was full of sanitary sewage

And I thought the DNC was full of it. WTH kind of oxymoronic doublespeak is that?!

Now I'll have to listen to Radio Canada tonight.
(2200z, 6.175/9.59MHz off the top of my head.)

[skateman]

I can see the caption under his senior picture now: "Sewer Boy-- He was alwalys so full of it.!"

[alloysteel]

This reminds me of the time one Halloween, some fifty years ago, when outhouses were a common fixture in town, my cousin DJ was part of a crew busily tipping over these same outhouses. DJ was giving it his all on the back wall of one of the targeted structures, when it started going over a little quicker than he anticipated, and he tumbled into the pit. After a hurried conference among his cohorts, it was thought best to dredge him up out of the hole, so they extented a rope and had him haul himself up, at which time they located a garden hose, and hosed him off good. Now remember, this was late October, and the nights were getting pretty cold. But the best anyone would do was to put him in the back of a pickup truck, and they drove to his home, about fifteen miles away. DJ danged near froze in the back, and when he got home, he had to strip off every piece of clothing and endure another hosing before his parents would allow him to even get into a bath. Needless to say, it was a much reformed DJ we saw when later he returned to school.