A nine-year-old boy has been found dead after drowning in a drainpipe in the Northern Territory on Tuesday.
Police were told the boy had entered the drainpipe at the Katherine Low Level Nature Reserve, just south of Katherine, at about 5.15pm and had not resurfaced.
It’s understood the young boy was swimming at a popular weir when he disappeared down the drainpipe.
The boy’s family held a vigil at the scene as police divers searched for him. Sadly, his body was found at 1.45am on Wednesday morning.
NT Police Commander Neil Hayes said the incident was ‘an incredibly tragic incident, and we are providing welfare to the attending members’.
‘Our thoughts are with the boy’s family,’ Commander Hayes said.
NT Police have now launched an investigation into the incident and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
It comes after the Daily Mail has seen multiple reports of locals dying, or nearly drowning in the weir over recent decades.
A nine-year-old boy has died after drowning in a drainpipe at the Katherine Low Level weir
NT Police have launched an investigation into the incident
One man, who was swimming in the weir in 1972, claimed he ‘came so close’ to drowning after he swam at the ‘topside’ of the dam wall.
‘I tried swimming out (and) screaming, “Help!” to my two buddies standing on the bridge. I kept going forward then being pulled back and under,’ the man shared on a Facebook post dedicated to the weir.
‘I was exhausted and I remember thinking this is the last time I can survive being pulled under again. Somehow my legs came up to the top of the water and I got out of the undertow – I was so damned lucky that day.’
Another man said he lost an ‘old school friend’ at their weir in 1990.
‘He went home to Katherine for school holidays from boarding school and never came back,’ the man commented. ‘From what I understand he drowned at the low level.’
Another person said a young man drowned there in the early 1960s due to a fault in the weir which was later fixed.
The weir is a popular swimming spot among local families due to its shallow depths.
However it is reportedly impassable during the majority of the wet season, from December to April, when the water levels rise to about 40 feet.
The weir is a popular swimming spot among local families due to its shallow depths
It is not known what depth the weir was at when the young boy entered into the drainpipe.
The Daily Mail has contacted Katherine Council for comment.
More to come.
