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It takes 5 seconds and 5 centimetres of water for a child to drown

18 August 2014 / 17:08:56  GRReporter
3267 reads

Anastasia Balezdrova

A 6-year-old child almost lost her life having found herself for long hours on board a boat in the open sea that no one steered. The girl and her 50-year-old father went boating but, for yet unclear reasons, the father ended up in the water and drowned. Several hours later another boat sent signals for a body in the sea. The Coast Guard immediately began to seek the child and found her near a remote beach where tourists had pulled her ashore.

The child's father was the 166th on the list of drowned people in Greece since the beginning of summer. "This puts the country at the  top of the tragic rating in Europe and second in the world after Japan," Spiros Mitritsakis, instructor at the Lifeguard Hellas Training Centre, told GRReporter.

According to him, the main reasons for drowning include the inability of many Greeks to swim, the lack of a sufficient number of lifeguards on the beaches in the country and the inadequate behaviour in the water. "80-90 percent of the cases are of adults who have overestimated their abilities. Many of them believe they are able to swim great distances and reach greater depths. A large percentage of them have chronic health problems and the smallest crisis can put them in a position in which they are unable to return. Others do not even observe the minimum warnings, namely that they should not enter the water with a full stomach."

According to Mitritsakis it is adults who do not listen to the advice of lifeguards and therefore the majority of the casualties are among them. "All that is required of them is to not go out to great depths but to stay in shallow waters and, in every case, only where they can touch the bottom. Even if they do not feel well, this will minimize the risk of them being unable to come out of the sea as well as of drowning."

The other major "trouble" for lifeguards is the parents of young children who are often inattentive. "We always say that the child must be under continuous control and an arm's length away from the parent. It takes only 5 seconds and 5 centimetres of water for a child to drown," warns Mitritsakis.

According to him, the majority of children aged over 6 years can swim because they have been to swimming pools where they have learnt how to swim. "The problem is with young children, aged between 3 and 5 years, who should not be left alone, even for a moment, because it can easily become fatal."

Mitritsakis believes that a change in the working hours of lifeguards is necessary, as it is now from 10:30 am to 05:30 pm. "Our efforts are to make it start at 09:00 am and continue until 07:00 pm. When we leave, people still go to the beach and they need to be protected," he said, adding that this can prevent from drowning adults who prefer to swim in the early hours of the day.

However, it is necessary to increase the number of lifeguards too. "This is the responsibility of municipalities that try to save money and do not hire lifeguards. The fines imposed on them by the Coast Guard are so low that they often prefer to break the law than to appoint a lifeguard. Not to mention that the law provides for the intervention of a prosecutor after the imposition of a second fine but this is not observed in practice."

Mitritsakis urged the municipalities to change their position and realize that Greece is a country the economy of which largely depends on tourism. "Let us not forget that there are a number of companies on the beaches that work with tourists. And they, in turn, would prefer to visit beaches, where there are lifeguards, to feel safe. In this sense, the cost of hiring a lifeguard yields immediate results and benefits the economy," said the instructor.

Tags: SocietyDrowningSeaLifeguardsChildrenAdults
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