The startling truths you need to know before swimming

One difference of humanity compared to animals is that we think. But also because it's so smart that people can't act instinctively, and sometimes this makes us disadvantaged, especially when swimming.

For example, if you throw a dog in the middle of the lake, it will panic a little but still swim to shore. In return, if it was a person who could not swim, there was a high chance that it would be the last time to enter the country if no one came to the rescue.

Every minute more than 2 people die from water.

People who want to swim must go through training, and that is not really difficult. However, just swimming is not enough!

You need to know that water is a world not for people, thereby training yourself to be more cautious when entering a dangerous environment.

1.2 million people every year

That is the number of victims drowning each year on a global scale, and this number is equivalent to every minute more than 2 people die from water.

If you count the "nearly drowning" people who are drowned but fortunately saved - the number will be 8 to 10 times higher.

50% of drowning victims are children.

In particular, about 50% of cases are children. Even 1/4 of these people are swimmers, gaining swimming certificates.

Who is easy to drown?

In a study conducted by the International Rescue Federation (ILF), they collected data from more than 1,000 drowning accidents, and more than 10,000 drowning cases. As a result, the victims are mainly allocated to the following three age groups:

1. Group 0 - 5 years old
2. Groups of 20-25 years old
3. Group> 60 years old

Cases of children under 5 who experience drowning accidents are often caused by adult carelessness, and they occur even when at home.

As for the elderly, the reason given is that they are limited in their ability to improvise when they encounter an emergency situation, or their health status suddenly decreases when swimming.

However in other age groups, there is a tendency to show that the number of victims is more male . The reason may be because men often prefer underwater adventure sports. They also tend to be more reckless because of their confidence in their swimming ability.

Men are more likely to drown.

Notably, a large number of victims drowned were saved by saving others. There was even a syndrome for this phenomenon: Aquatic victim instead of rescuer syndrome (AVIR).

According to data from Australia during 2002-2007, about 27 victims drowned when trying to rescue a drowning person.

The main reason is that the victims are not familiar with the water , too confident about their swimming ability. Meanwhile, to save people, it is more than just swimming skills: need rescue objects, grasp the approach to victims, and it is important to have helpers on the shore.

Locations and times often drowned

Statistics show that drowning incidents occur almost every time, but mostly occur in the evenings of the summer - the time when the house empties into the lake in the cool sea. In addition, evening is also when people feel more tired, easy to make reckless decisions and lack of insight.

To save people is more than just swimming skills.

About the same place, drowning accidents can happen anywhere - even at home. However, most of them take place in large water areas such as rivers, sea, lakes, ponds . where there is no rescue or people with sufficient expertise stand by.

Besides, the data also shows the fact that many cases drowned while victims did not even intend to go to the water, such as yacht accidents. That is why all must comply with all safety procedures before traveling by boat , of which the most important is wearing life jackets .

But don't be so afraid of water

Many people drown, but it is important to know that there are hundreds of thousands of drowning cases saved each year. In addition, the number of people going swimming is increasing, but the drowning rate has never increased.

This means that just by understanding the safety and training process properly, we can completely prevent the disaster from happening.