Australia Dam Was Inspected Days Before It Burst
Date: 25-Nov-08
Country: AUSTRALIA
The 4-year-old girl was swept to her death on Sunday when the bladder ruptured, releasing enough water to fill 6,000 Olympic-sized pools.
The dam was being used to increase the capacity of the storm-swollen Bedford Weir, near Blackwater in central Queensland.
"The weir was operating very well. There were no signs of anything leading up to the failure," Peter Boettcher, the chief executive of weir operator Sunwater, told state radio.
The girl had been swimming with her mother and two other adults near the base of the weir when the bladder failed. All three adults were swept away but survived.
The Blackwater area had been inundated after a week of heavy rains and cyclonic storms which also battered the state capital Brisbane, 800 km (500 miles) to the southeast.
"This is just a terrible ending for what has been a horrible week," acting police inspector David Stein said.
(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Paul Tait)