Agony over pipe tragedy

THE mother of a 10-year-old girl who drowned when she was sucked into a river overflow pipe yesterday spoke of her agony over the tragedy. Naomi Sims was trapped in the 12in diameter pipe for up to 10 minutes after falling into the river as she played with a friend. Naomi, a strong swimmer, was pulled to safety by firefighters but she died five hours later in hospital.

Her mother, Bridget Hogg, told how she had warned her not to play near the pipe in the river Glyme, which runs across nearby Blenheim Palace at Woodstock, Oxfordshire. "I'd allowed Naomi to go out for a walk with a friend from school but she knew she wasn't to go near the river. I told them they could go around the block but that was all. But they must have gone to play by the pipe instead because children often play by there," she said. "That pipe has been left like that since I was young. I just think something has got to be done now to prevent this happening to another family."