EDITORIAL - Preventable deaths

According to reports, a total of 72 people, including 23 minors and three senior citizens, drowned during Holy Week.

While some of those deaths were indeed the result of maritime accidents, most of them were results of negligence or drunken revelry; children who stepped off wrong end of the swimming pool or into the wrong place in the sea, adults who drowned after going swimming after consuming too much alcohol.

“Resorts and beaches were packed. This also contributed to the number of drowning incidents,” Philippine National Police spokeswoman Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said

This is not counting those two young children who drowned in the sump of a septic tank excavation in Talisay City last Easter Sunday.

Those deaths are tragedies in themselves, but what makes them even more tragic is that every one of them could have been prevented.

Drownings are usually preventable deaths. Meaning there could have been something done to stop it from happening.

Unless it involves a flashflood or tsunami suddenly coming down upon a populated area, bodies of water don’t actively approach or sneak up on people, catching them off-guard, then overwhelming them. Rather, it’s the people who go to these bodies of water whether to cross them for travel or swim in them for leisure.

Preventing drowning onboard vessels means adhering to safety standards like having just the allowed number of passengers and also enough lifeboats and life vests for everyone. Preventing drowning during celebrations means being careful in the consumption of alcohol, keeping an eye out for the kids, especially those who don’t know how to swim, and having someone ready to help in case someone flounders.

In the case of the two young kids who died in Talisay City, it meant placing barriers that prevented them from approaching or falling into the sump.

In the long run it could also mean making sure kids learn how to swim at a very young age.

Considering that the dry season is already here, we can expect even more and more people to flock to beaches and private resorts that have swimming pools. Also, kids will be outside playing with their friends near possible water hazards. It’s important that people realize drowning is preventable and know what should be done.