Rescuing drowning people… (PHOTOS)

Holiday season is in full swing. And when formal areas for recreation are too few, and commercial ones are often unaffordable, tired of heat citizens go to wild beaches. And it is a concern for relevant services, as uncontrolled swimming in the waters unsuitable for this may result in tragedy.

Since the beginning of the yerar, in Transcarpathian region 25 people, including two children, have died on the water. In most cases, the reason is a negligence. To prevent such occurrences, Transcarpathian rescuers conducted a raid in most popular recreation areas and a training on life saving on water near Uzhgorod.

A couple with four children arranged a picnic on the Uzh river bank, near Kamyanytsya. Everything as it should be – the fire for cooking food, and then – swimming in the river. They listen carefully and kindly to the tips from the rescuers: to be careful and not to leave children in the water by themselves.   The woman said, that they know about the fire and safe swimming, and would like to see the rest of the people have the same attitude.

"Today we had an unpleasant situation: we saw that some tourists, hopefully unintentionally, left the fire unextinguished, and of course we had to deal with it. Actually, I think that we should be conscientious – if we do not take care of ourselves, the next time we will not have a place to rest, to sit on the grass with the kids and spend at least half a day in nature" – Mrs. Natalia says.

Transcarpathian rescuers talk with campers, explaining simple rules: the fire should be set carefully in suitable places, before leaving, it must be fully extinguished, and most importantly – they should be careful in the water: not to swim while being intoxicated, not to jump into the water, and look after children .

In order to be able to help in time, rescuers conduct training in the water. So to speak, in the field – at their base on the river. 

Unfortunately, there are only 11 specialists on water rescue in the region. And the number of drowned this year is almost a record 26 people. Causes of tragedies are simple, an experienced rescuer says, and often it is simple negligence and carelessness.

"Why do people drown? Because they take alcohol, because they do not know how to swim, because they swim in places they do not know, break their heads, get injured. Unfortunately, many young children drown, because parents do not look after them, allow them to swim by themselves" – Serhiy Laver, a diver of the special rescue unit says.  

He says, last Tuesday, near Kamyanytsya, a man with two children – a boy and a girl – drowned in the river…

The most important thing in saving operations is skills and concerted action, and even more so – efficiency. When incidents on the water happen, every minute, and even second matters… Therefore they train. Today they worked out practical skills of rescuing drowning people. Although they often have to deal with incidents when a person has drowned, and they can not help, the rescuer says that he never regretted having chosen this profession…