The gambler rode down the canal like on a toboggan. He could have drowned or been poisoned, the waterworks warn

The footage, which appeared on the Kanalismus YouTube account last week, had garnered over 30,000 views by Wednesday evening.

According to the description, it was a “video purely for pleasure”, which captures “a return to the Brno sewer trunk collector B06 at the Čertík stream and the entire, uninterrupted descent of the DN 1200 basalt chute from the bridges of the Prague radials to the Čertík relief chamber.” The aforementioned stream flows into Pisárky in Brno to the river Svratka.

The author uses his mobile phone to film how he skis through dirty water while sitting for about a minute and a half. He ends his performance by exclaiming “hahahahahaha, I almost went under the knife.” Another man, titled Jiřík Kanálník, captures the end of his act through the open hatch of the canal.

The editors of iDNES.cz sent him questions, to which he answered on Thursday morning after the publication of this article. “It’s hard to say whether someone should be inspired by this particular video. He can also do geocaching and run across the road while hunting for caches and get hit by a vehicle, or climb a bridge or climb into treetops for interesting pine cones and fall,” wrote Jiřík Kanálník.

He further noted that there is a lot to see on the Internet. “There is certainly no need to go anywhere, that is always the activity of a specific individual. Urbex is also risky, there are a lot of videos, and yet only the one who is responsible for his actions goes there. So definitely don’t climb anywhere, if you do, then with your parents or an adult,” said the co-author of the video from the sewer.

The footage also reached Brno waterworks and sewage workers. Renata Hermanová, the spokeswoman for the city society, warns against similar stunts, according to her, movement in the canal without proper training and equipment can lead to a life-threatening situation. He names four main risks.

“Gamble with Health and Life”

The first is infection with infectious diseases. “Sewage contains a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms that are much more easily transmitted by water, such as noroviruses, adenoviruses, rotaviruses, hepatitis A and E virus, parasitic protozoa, pathogenic bacteria. We all remember covid-19, which was commonly found in wastewater,” Hermanová enumerates.

The second danger is the threat of drowning. “Even if it’s not raining and the flow in the sewage system is small, the situation can change very quickly due to manipulation of the objects of the sewer network. In a very short time, the entire sewer profile can be overwhelmed,” warns the spokesperson.

Toxic gases can also be present in sewage, so oxygen depletion and poisoning can occur. There is also a risk of injury.

“Our employees who enter the sewers for operational reasons must follow strict safety measures and must be properly equipped. For operational reasons, all entrances to the sewer network cannot be technically secured against the intrusion of unauthorized persons, so we appeal to common sense. The entry of uninvited persons can clearly be considered a gamble with one’s health and life,” Hermanová announces.

According to her, based on the published video, Brno waterworks and sewerage are preparing an initiative for the police due to unauthorized access to the sewerage system. The company does not know the authors of the shots.