2023-07-18 09:06:29
In the first half of the year, 169 people have lost their lives due to drowning in aquatic spaces, which is 29 more than in 2022, according to the latest data from the Royal Spanish Rescue and Lifeguard Federation (RFSS).
And last June was the second month with the most deaths from drowning, a total of 57, only surpassed by that of 2017, when 70 were registered, ahead of 2016, with 56; 2019, with 50; 2015 with 43; 2020 with 41; 2021, with 35; and 2018, with 34.
Those 57 drownings in June They represent, in a single month, 33.73% of the total that have been recorded this year. Thus, June is the month of 2023 with the most drownings, above May, when there were 33, and February, with 32.
The beach is the place where more people have drowned in June, 30. There have been nine drownings in swimming pools; in rivers, eight; and ten “in locations to be determined”, according to data from the RFSS.
Prevention and common sense
For all these reasons, prevention and common sense are essential. More and more we look for hidden beaches where we can be alone and where bathers do not arrive. And this entails a series of risks, because many of them are not monitored by lifeguards.
In this sense, the lifeguard teacher in the training cycle of Higher Technician in Teaching and Socio-sports Animation of the European University, daniel arrabalemphasizes the importance of prevention and awareness to avoid drowning.
El Zapillo beach in Almeria. EFE / Carlos Barba
“We cannot control everything and even more so in open water, that is why prevention would be a point, prevention that should start in schools so that children grow up knowing that aquatics is a dangerous environment because it is not our usual environment and also awareness because it is difficult to reach everyone”, says Arrabal. And he says it above all for adolescents and young people.
The different colors of the flags on the beach are still information resources and more and more unguarded beaches have signs informing of the absence of this service in order to warn of the possible consequences. And they don’t have to go unnoticed.
Witness to a possible drowning
If on some occasion, you witness a potential drowning and there are no lifeguards, Arrabal details the keys to try to avoid it. First you have to sound the alarm.
“Giving a scream like we see in the movies when they ask if there is a doctor in the room. And because? because it may be that I do not have enough knowledge or am not able to reach the person in danger, but perhaps another person who is in the area, yes, and we can help each other”, explains the expert.
While another person is calling the Emergency, it is a question of acting as quickly as possible to increase the chances that the victim will come out alive or with the least possible injuries.
Once the alarm has been raised, it is necessary to assess whether trying to rescue the victim is going to put one’s life at risk.
“It’s about acting with the things I know how to do. Evaluate if you are a person who swims well, that the sea is not too bad… In any case, it is best that several people do not go to try to rescue the victim in the sea because they can increase the risks. Ideally, if there are several, one of them acts as a leader, so to speak, and organizes them”, points out the expert.
The Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES) has prepared a document with questions and answers about drowning. Precisely, he points out that in popular ideas the drowning person screams, swings his arms and asks for help, however, “drowning is subtle and silent.”
“The drowned man swims underwater, staring at the shore, while trying to raise his head to breathe,” explains SEMES.
reassure the victim
Once you have decided to act and go to the rescue of the person in question, if they are conscious, try to reassure them so that towing is easier. And if on the beach there is an object that floats such as floats, small surfboards, it will be better to take them so that the victim can hold on and have more buoyancy.
If the victim is conscious, you have to get closer but without having direct contact with her, you have to try to talk to her.
“And if I see that the person does not attend to me because it is very possible that they do not even listen to me, due to that state of nerves, they should assess how to catch the victim and even wait for a moment at a certain distance so that they wear out, not drown, but that it does not have so much force ”, points out Arrabal.
Then you have to take it under the armpits to place it face up, so that it keeps the airways out of the water and there perform the tow, with a tow kick, as indicated by the expert from the European University.
Some lifeguards carry out a rescue drill on the Malvarrosa beach in Valencia. EFE/Biel Aliño
And if he is unconscious?
In the event that the victim is unconscious, the trailer is the same, obviously it is placed on its back, and once on the beach it is necessary to make sure that it is breathing.
“You have to open the airways by doing a maneuver called forehead-chin, which is a slight cervical extension and check for 10 seconds if the victim is breathing, approaching her to feel the air and looking at her feet, if the stomach or the abdomen expands”, says Arrabal.
If you are not breathing, the recommendation is to start with the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) maneuver, if you do not know how to do it, you have to contact 112 again, put the phone on speakerphone and listen to the instructions given by the toilets to carry it out.
Training, essential
For this reason, the professor from the European University considers that first aid should also be part of compulsory education. “I no longer say a subject that would be very good, but at least that is within the educational curriculum.”
In fact, SEMES makes a series of recommendations in the same direction:
Promote the teaching of aquatic safety standards at schoolthe knowledge of the flags of the sea and the identification of risk situations, as is done with road safety.
Acquire from school the competence to perform CPR and include CPR with ventilations and compressions since compulsory secondary education.
Access to swimming lessons from a young age to acquire basic aquatic skills and notions of aquatic safety.
Write with the children the rules of use of the domestic pool.
Acquire an enclosure secure enough to prevent access to the pool. Actively promote the lifeguard hiring for the community pool, although the legislation does not require it. promote a rcollective use regulation where small children are not allowed unsupervised access. follow a revision and maintenance plan adequate facilities (drains, skimmers, enclosures).
Report reckless attitudes or breaches of rules of safety and coexistence in aquatic spaces (for example, bathing with a red flag).
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