this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
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Three teenagers were killed when their car skidded off the road in southern France, went through a wall and crashed upside down in a private pool, trapping them inside.

The vehicle was a similar size to the pool and the teenagers - aged 14, 15 and 19 - were unable to open the doors and drowned.

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[–] k_rol@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Wtf Does anyone have an idea on how to exit in such a situation?

[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

There likely was no possible way for then to get out of the car. If they wanted to survive, their best bet would have been to not skid off a road and go through a fence.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maybe through the front or back windshield, but given that the pool and car were of very similar size (diameter), I don't think there was a way. They were dead the moment they hit the water. They just didn't know it yet.

[–] philpo@feddit.org 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's very very very unlikely/next to impossiblr that you are able to destroy the front window in a modern car - even with tools that takes time and skill

With a back window you might have more luck,depending on the car,at least with a center punch tool, you might have a better chance - but that requires you to be able to a) be alert and uninjured enough to do so b) find your way there in total darkness, wrong orientation,etc. c) manage to apply the right amount of force.

Source: Am a paramedic,have to destroy windows once a year for our training with the firies, additionally have done "total submersion" training once. (Basically the same as what happend here. You get into a car,this car get spun on the roof, then slid down nto a pool/lake - with the difference that you have space on all sides, there is a rescue diver with you in the car and another two are next to it. It is still a fucking nightmare and MUCH worse than what I used to do to work on the helicopter - their HUET was much easier.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No way! What country is this? That sounds expensive! Any videos of these situations (don’t want you to selfdox too hard if avoidable but maybe it’s nbd depending on the politics of your post history)?

[–] philpo@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

What part do you mean exactly? That we train technical rescue with the firies every year? That comes with the job - and it's more "their part" - even the smaller volunteer fire departments do that at least once a year to keep up their skills with the heavy tools and we get train to work with them. It's usually not that expensive either,as they use an old car that wouls be wrecked either way. Often they get them for free (as disposing a car can be expensive otherwise).

The total submersion training? That is much rarer and I only did that once, but it's part of the training of the more specialist water rescue crews, afaik. The issue here are not the cost,but finding a suitable location - you can't just use your community pool or nearvx lake so you either have a quarry with a lake or something like that (we did it in a army tank training ground, they have a pool to drive tanks through. Nowadays it's almost impossible to get a permit to train there due to the hybrid warfare the fucking russkies do) We have a specialist training side that enables indoor training of helicopter based winch rescue from flood water/flooded buildings,etc. though. (Mainly focuses on mountain rescue,though and has a cold chamber,etc. as well) (https://bw-zsa.org/) (https://youtu.be/2qWJNgKVo18)

Similar training of an automobile club: https://youtu.be/T5l1ayTryhc

HUET for helicopter is mandatory for everyone who works with maritime helicopters, e.g. oil rig workers, maritime pilots,etc. Therefore they are fairly common. https://youtu.be/YyPzzLwpzvw

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Good to know. I thought windshields were designed to pop off in one piece which is why I thought it'd be a possibility.

[–] philpo@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

They very rarely do these days. Even less when under pressure (e.g. when the car is on it's roof).

I am a fairly big guy and never managed to do so.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The story notes that the pool was near in size to the car. That would mean that, regardless of water pressure, you wouldn't be able to open the doors. My next try would be the windows but it's possible that it was such a tight fit that they wouldn't be able to get out the windows either.

My next option would be to pull down the back seat, exit into the trunk, and use the interior trunk release to exit the trunk. However, that also may not have worked, depending on whether the car's weight was on the trunk (preventing you from exiting the trunk), or whether there was enough room along the back or sides of the trunk (preventing you from making your way to the surface).

My final option would be to try to kick out the windshield and exit there. I'm sure many people would try it earlier; my assumptions are that the weight of the engine would be holding the front of the car closer to the bottom of the pool; that momentum carried the front of the car close to/into the edge of the pool, limiting space to exit that way; that front airbags may make the exit awkward; and that a possibly shattered windshield and crumpled front of the car make exiting through the windshield a more dangerous route.

Other than those options, I'm not sure what you could do.

they finished upside down in a small swimming pool, so really no way out

I don't think there is a trunk release inside french cars

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In this case there was no way to exit as the car was upside down in a swimming pool that was the same size

[–] datavoid@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 week ago (4 children)

What kind of asshole builds a swimming pool the size of that car

[–] Loco_Mex@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

What kind of asshole drives high on nitrous oxide, weed and alcoho

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

At that point it's just a hole with water in it.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Like some sort of.... Pool.... Of water

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 1 points 1 week ago

I don't think so, more like a hole, but it has water in it.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

It can still be long...

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Wells….hottubs…

Anyways I dont think you can really fault the person who has a private pool in their private yard in this situation. Let them do what they want in their private space. It’s their space. Their water.

More like Who rolls a car off the road. That’s where cars belong. Roads are where there’s enough space for cars.

Fricken random situation. It could have been worse. Someone could have been in their pool at the time of it happening where they wouldn’t expect a car.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

What? Lol. Swimming / lap pools are popular

[–] MelonYellow@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well those kids were uniquely screwed. But I figure in a sinking car scenario, the best bet is to immediately roll down the windows. Even better to have manual windows so there’s no risk of automatic windows failing. I have that drilled into my brain, for let’s say I’m driving a car rental and by some freak accident fall off a cliff edge. Fuck waiting for the pressure to equalize, by then who knows how deep I’d be and I don’t trust how long I could hold my breath for.
Roll. Down. The. Windows!

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Only thing I can think of while sitting comfortably at the keyboard and not in that car panicking is to kick out the windshield and hope you can swim under and out after the water rushes in. If the car is resting at the bottom and that's blocked... no, I can't think of one. I don't imagine cars are very airtight, especially since they drowned, so there must not have been an air pocket for them to last a few hours.