A four-year-old girl has been left terrified after she fell down an unsecure "eight to 10 feet" deep drain at a pub garden. Jorgiie Evans had been playing in the park at Brewers Lodge pub in Blackwood when she fell into the hole on Friday, May 27.
Her worried mother Gemma Evans said since the incident her daughter has been left phobic of drains and holes in the ground. A spokesman for the pub said Welsh Water had carried work out on the drain on March 4, leaving it unsecure without their knowledge.
However, Welsh Water said its team secured the cover correctly following the completion of this work and "it is not clear" what caused the manhole cover to become loose.
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Mum-of-three Gemma said she and Jorgiie went to the pub with another of her children, nine-year-old Lacey, as well as a friend and her friend's children. She said the group arrived at around 4pm in order to eat and so the children could play at the park.
The 31-year-old explained: "We were sitting right in front of the park on a bench and [at around 5.30pm] I was talking to my other daughter. Then a little boy who I was with came up to me and said Jorgiie had fallen down a drain.
"I got up, saw the drain and ran straight to it. She had gone through the drain and managed to save herself by holding on to the ladder going down the drain. My only thought was to get her out of it."
Gemma said Jorgiie was around an arm's length deep into the drain and that part of the plastic drain covering had enclosed back over her. "If I wasn't looking for my daughter and couldn’t see her, I wouldn’t have even thought to have looked down the drain," she said. "There was only a small gap open.
"I lay on the floor and had my whole arm down there leaning in to grab her, I screamed for help and a man came running and we pulled her out together. I don’t even know who he was. I pulled my daughter out and I just cuddled her and cried with her. While she was down there, she was crying and screaming for help."
Following the incident, staff from the pub secured the drain with heavy path edging. Both Gemma and the pub spokesman said they got in touch with Welsh Water who fixed the drain the following morning before 10am. You can get more Caerphilly stories by signing up to our WalesOnline newsletter here
Gemma said she was shaken up by what happened and took her children straight home. She said: "I came straight home. I don't even know how I drove home, but I went home and bawled my eyes out and cuddled her. I didn’t sleep that night. Every time I shut my eyes, I just saw my daughter’s face screaming for help."
Gemma said luckily Jorgiie was only left with a few scratches and bruises, but it upsets her to think of how serious it could have been if she hadn't gripped onto the ladder. She said although Jorgiie's physical injuries may be mild, the phycological impact was greater.
"I don't know how she managed to save herself, I will always be baffled as to how she did that," she said. "She has some cuts and bruises but she is lucky really. I am thankful that is all she had because it could have been a very different outcome.
"Now she is scared of any kind of drain or hole. If she sees a drain now, she avoids it at all costs. When my other daughters go out [including eldest sister, Charleigh, 13] she tells them to be careful. She is so scared of drains she won't go anywhere near them. It has really stuck in her mind." Gemma said she got in touch with a pub manager a day after the incident, who apologised for their experience.
A spokesman for Brewers Lodge said: "Welsh Water had here on March 4 to clear a blockage and they left the drain slightly unsecured without our knowledge.
"Some children had been playing by the drain and they had lifted the lid and dropped rocks down there. Unfortunately this young child had walked past and the kids had left it open, so she fell down it.
"It could have been awful. From what we understand the child is uninjured but was very distressed. We contacted Welsh Water straight away and they were here before 10am the next morning to fix it. It has been fixed and it can't happen again." The spokesman stressed that children must be closely supervised while at the pub at all times and that a number of signs are in place explaining this.
A Welsh Water spokesman said: "We were recently called to investigate a loose manhole cover located within the private grounds of Brewers Lodge, Blackwood.
"While we had visited the property earlier this year and opened the cover to investigate a blockage on the sewer, our team secured the cover correctly following the completion of this work.
"It is not clear what caused the manhole cover to become loose since then however as a safety measure, our team has replaced the entire cover. We are also in contact with the child’s family following the event..
"The cover was part of a private sewage pipe system which transferred to Welsh Water and we would advise anyone with sewer manhole covers in the boundary of their land to contact us if they notice any issues."
