While many South Africans are still enjoying the last week of the holidays, Lifesaving South Africa reported that a spate of drownings occurred during the festive season.
The drown-prevention organisation recorded the most drownings it had not witnessed in previous years, with 21 people drowning in the latter half of November.
KwaZulu-Natal experienced the most drownings with 12 cases, while the Western Cape accounted for five. Most people drowned in the ocean with 13 casualties.
“The number of fatal drownings coincided with the emergence of hot weather as well as the closing of examinations, schools and universities,” said Lifesaving SA President, Dhaya Sewduth.
The number of drownings doubled to 42 during December up until the first week of the new year, which consisted of 34 fatal drownings and eight non-fatal.
December saw 27 drownings, with KZN accounting for nine incidents and the Western Cape followed with seven. Fifteen people drowned in the ocean.
January recorded seven drownings. Surprisingly, Limpopo led the pack with five drownings, and six people drowned in the river.
“Regarding the cases of drownings in the ocean, reports showed that most were at non-designated duty areas or non- lifeguarded beaches while three of the cases in Cape Town were after duty hours,” said Sewduth.
Sewduth expressed concerns that increased drowning cases may have stemmed from the lack of swimming skills in communities.
“The lack of swimming skills and risk assessments in remote rivers and dams where swimming is often unsupervised, and lifeguards are not present,” he said.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) reported that there are approximately 1500 drownings annually in South Africa of which 450 occur amongst children under the ages of 14.
The swimming institution highlighted the urgency of a water safety curriculum in schools as drowning is the leading cause of child mortality.
The country accounted for about a third of drowning incidents globally among children who are less than 14 years of age.
Spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education (DBE), Elijah Mhlanga, confirmed that a water safety programme is already offered through Life Orientation and Life Skills curriculum.
He noted the programme is also inclusive of diferrently-abled learners, and schools that lack the required facilities to render swimming skills.
“Schools undertake trips to places where water is available. Excursions are part of the academic programme, as they are regarded as study tours which empower learners. The system caters for learners with various abilities,” said Mhlanga.
Sewduth furthermore mentioned the apparent ignorance of rip tides, where the public may not be able to spot or keep far away from.
Additionally, young victims also parade the waters unsupervised by adults, while other people use alcohol on beaches despite the strict controls by law enforcement to search and confiscate alcohol brought to the beaches.
Sewduth hailed all lifeguard volunteers and professionals who worked tirelessly in ensuring the safety of holidaymakers across SA beaches.
“Lifesaving SA acknowledges that its members as well as the professional lifeguards executed several hundreds of help-outs and quite serious rescues. Had it not been for the proactive actions of the lifesavers, the drowning fatalities would have been much higher,” he said.
He also said reports of rescues and first aid cases will be made available after completion as they are being validated with the volunteer clubs and municipalities.
The Star