What would cause two visiting children to mysteriously drown in the Rio On pools on two successive days? 6-year-old Issac Pipersburgh drowned there on Saturday and not even 24 hours later, 7-year-old Cerys Mctaggart drowned as well. Both their feet had been trapped in some rock formation.
But how...?
That's the question so many have asked - when we know that thousands of Belizeans and tourists go to these pools to swim every year without incident.
Today Cherisse Halsall went looking fo answers and found that the the pools are lovely, but below the water's surface lies a mysterious water tunnel that could swallow a child hole. Here's her story:
This is the road to the Rio On pools but the sign is gone and the road closed after two children quite tragically drowned last weekend.
It's a road that the Pipersburgh family would have traveled with excitement last Saturday morning. They couldn't know then that this adventure would be their 6 year old son's last.
But faced with this breathtaking view on a sunny, perfect day who could know that there was an unknown danger lurking beneath the stream.
And it was here from the top of this rock that Issac Pipersburgh jumped to his death
Esther Pipersburgh - Issac's mother
"I saw him running, running, running. I got across I looked over at him and I said Issac wait for your dad and at that moment he, what was the word that was used? No, but what was the word that was used? A cannonball. He did a cannonball. At that moment he did a cannonball and I yelled for Mark and Mark started slowly coming up towards where Issac was and I'm looking waiting for him to come up I saw his hat come up and then that floated away and I thought you know that makes sense since there was no strap. And then I saw one of his floaties pop up and i thought it was his arm and I thought okay the rest of him will follow, nope that one floated away, and then when his second floaty came up I panicked and by that time I think Mark was already near and looking looking. So when that second floaty came up I screamed I yelled I was yelling for him, I was crying. I went completely crazy. And with me screaming everyone that was there heard it and they all came to help look for Isaac. I knew he was stuck, I knew he was in some crevice because he never came out. Someone would have seen Issac come out and he never came out."
And what Esther knew in that moment is that Issac had jumped in the worst spot imaginable. He'd jumped in a hidden 6ft sinkhole completely covered by rapids. That rushing water made it such that anyone or anything that goes down would find it almost impossible to come up.
Gerardo Garcia - Tour Guide, Blancaneux Lodge
"Here at Rio On pools this section here is one of the ones that is really dangerous, the reason why is because the hole that we have here is about 8feet to 9feet deep. So when ou are swimming or crawling through this section the current of the water is on top going through so it's going to be hard to get out. The only way you can get out is by going all the way to the bottom and pushing with your feet up, you push right up and then the current will push you out. It's just a warning that I'm telling Belizeans that come and enjoy the Rio On pools, it's a beautiful place you just have to be aware of certain areas that you can't swim."
And that's where Issac got stuck. His body wasn't recovered until Spanish lookout resident Peter Friesen
bravely, and with little regard for his own safety, dove down to the bottom of the sinkhole to retrieve him.
Peter Friesen - Recovered Issac's body
"I went there with the news that somebody was missing. I got into the water, asked people what happened nobody gave me very good information but I was searching in the water and finally I got more specific details from the mother exactly where the boy was seen last and he was standing on a rock and he jumped into that stream and disappeared into that stream which we now discovered is a hole in the stream. So they had been searching for a couple hours and nobody was finding him but when the mother explained the details. I investigated the stream and I found the hole but was not safe to get in because of the currant, so I tied a rope on myself and somebody watched over me and I got into the water and found the boy named Issac."
Friesen says he's both ready and able to help the relevant authority fill the treacherous sinkhole that took the Pipersburgh's child.
Peter Friesen
"This Rio On pool is a place I've gone for the last 40 years, it's a good place to go swim for all Belizeans and all tourists and yes, everybody have to go swim there at their own risk but I didn't know there was a dangerous spot there but I don't Rio On pool a dangerous place, just this one spot that needs to be made safe and to my knowledge it's possible just fill it up with stones and such sizes of stones that the stream will not remove the stones and the hole could be filled so that it would be safe for all Belizeans and tourists for the future."
And less than 24 hours later the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest reserve would see the drowning of yet another child -year-old Cerys Mctaggart.
For so many years the pools' unspoilt beauty was a place of unmatched wonderment, but now that unique experience is tempered by our knowledge that something so idyllic can still be fraught with mortal danger.
From the Rio On Pools in the Mountain Pine Rige Forest reserve, Cherisse Halsall 7 News.
Notable is that the warning sign at the entrance to the pool specifically indicates that there should be quote: "No running, no climbing, no jumping, and no diving." in or near the pools. The authorities may do well to move that sign much closer to the pools, since it also cautions the public to swim at their own risk and parents to supervise their children.
