July 22, 2011
SYDNEY (AFP) - A 12-year-old Australian boy who was dragged some 80 metres (yards) underground after falling into a stormwater drain said he thought he was going to drown before he popped up behind a Chinese eatery.
Daniel Soumastre-Sepulveda was standing over the flooded drain on Wednesday with a friend, throwing sticks and leaves into the surging water to see how fast they would go, when he suddenly lost his footing and slipped in.
"I felt like I was going to drown," he said.
"The tunnel was pitch black. I was thinking I was going to fall off the edge into a giant pool and drown, then I saw a light and was pushed out," he told the Newcastle Herald.
The schoolboy was dragged about 80 metres underground before resurfacing at the rear of a Chinese restaurant in an area near his home in Cardiff, in the Newcastle region north of Sydney.
He was able to get his bearings but found himself stuck due to the power of the surging water and was unable to pull himself out without help.
After yelling for help and attracting the attention of a passerby, he was rescued by a fire crew using a ladder, ropes and harness and suffered only minor injuries.
"I was really cold (and) I felt a bit dizzy from getting pushed around in the water," he said.
Despite his misadventure, Soumastre-Sepulveda was back at school Thursday.
"Mum told me I had to go so I didn't miss out on work," he said. "She told me not to come home soaked."
Sydney and surrounding regions have been lashed by wild weather in recent days with torrential rains and violent winds bringing down trees and damaging roofs in parts of New South Wales state.
