Rockford Volunteer Dies In Beijing

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 15, 2008 2:50PM

A few days before the Olympic games in Beijing started, a 25-year old Rockford volunteer died in Beijing and American and Chinese authorities have been mum on the topic, according to a report by ABC 7. Ann DeWaters apparently died on August 4 as the result of a fall, but reports have ranged from a fall from a train to falling through a building's roof. State Department officials refused to comment on the incident as did the Florida-based organization DeWaters' was representing, but the spokesman for Rockford Congressional Representative Don Manzullo, for whom DeWaters interned for in 2006, told ABC 7 DeWaters was, "walking down a Beijing street returning to her hotel...when she fell through an open manhole and hit her head," a report echoed by other media outlets. It's likely the ambiguity surrounding her death was a result of the restrictive Chinese government not wanting any reports of visitor deaths before the Olympics, which also explains why it's taken 10 days for the story to break in the states.

Apparently, stolen manhole covers isn't just an Oak Lawn problem: in 2004, 24,000 were reported stolen in Beijing. As part of their preparation for the Olympics, officials ordered all 840,000 of Beijing's manhole covers bolted down. In 2006, 47 people were killed and 10,000 were injured as a result of open manhole covers. Rep. Manzullo was able to help the DeWaters family expedite the transfer of her remains, which arrived back in Chicago on Wednesday. A wake was scheduled for today and a funeral for tomorrow at an Irving Park church, followed by burial in Niles.