Port Macquarie Olympic Swimming Pool: facility bursts, children sucked through hole

A Mid-North Coast pool has “exploded”, with onlookers recounting swimming children getting “sucked through”. Here’s what happened.

The current Port Macquarie town pool.

Swimmers have voiced concerns over the “substantial issue” of a local pool for some time. Now, their predictions have come true.

On Monday, October 10, the indoor Learn to Swim facility at Port Macquarie War Memorial Olympic Swimming Pool burst.

Port Macquarie Pool.

Witnesses described seeing the swimming children “sucked through” the hole, smashing the shed wall, flooding the entire place including the carpark.

NSW Ambulance paramedics were called to the scene around 11.40am where two adult patients were assessed.

Both women were treated for minor injuries and shock, one of them in their 20s and one in their 40s.

The Y, who only recently took over the facility, have labelled it an “incident” and started an investigation into the matter.

“We have offered counselling to the families and team members involved,” a spokesperson for the Y said.

“Pending this investigation and respectful of those present, we will not be making any further comment at this time.”

The Y said no serious injuries were reported from the event.

It comes just less than a month after Port Macquarie-Hastings Council established the pool’s replacement as a major priority.

“The current pool is showing its age, it’s leaking water at a significant rate,” Deputy Mayor Adam Roberts said.

“It’s an ageing piece of infrastructure, built around the middle of the last century or thereabouts – at some point, we’re going to need to upgrade and invest in a new pool.”

The councillor said continuous “patch jobs” on the Gordon St facility is kicking the problem down the road, and that a brand-new pool is desperately needed.