When will the drownings stop? Another four young children die in weir in Surin

[Lord Lucan]

Very sad and often preventable,

”fished out” is hardly an appropriate choice of words,

why not say “their bodies where recovered later.

    RIP.

[Reigntax]

2 hours ago, Hans Johnson said:

This is sad story with the loss of unsupervised children which is common here. 
 

We have children swimming in the klong  behind my house and About two years ago I cold hear a young child crying and found two in the water clinging to the edge, one about 2 years old and pulled them out. We took them to the community head with the story with my wife complaining about the situation of children swimming there. I did not get a thank you for saving the children or the parents come to the house. My wife is angry as the children still swim there. 
 

They need to educate communities and schools of the dangers of entering water if they cannot swim.

Yes. And educate them them to jump off high buildings when they can’t fly.

 

Or drive without licences or ability.

 

The list could go on.

 What’s missing is any ability whatsoever to consider the consequences outside their cocoon of tunnel vision.

 If we are to give the Thai education system a wrap, they are undoubtedly No 1 in the teaching of ignorance.

[Enoon]

2 hours ago, JCauto said:

Probably what is required is a PSA from the government teaching the population about the serious danger that exists from weirs. The government has had several programs over the last 5 decades to construct many low-cost weirs around Thailand, particularly in the Northeast. These are appropriate structures and help with supplementary irrigation and water supply. However I have never seen any indications or standard signage or other provisions within the design to warn local people about the dangers of the backwash area at the downstream end of the weir. As per this article (https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Weir):

"Weirs are particularly dangerous to humans - and are thus commonly called "drowning machines".^[8] Particularly, the circulating "backwash" of water behind the weir is easy to get trapped within, and if a swimmer or boater is caught within this cycle escape and rescue is incredibly difficult. Additionally, debris that can be trapped within this cycle of water can pose harm to anyone trapped behind the weir."

"Weir safety: fact sheet", Seqwater.com.au, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.seqwater.com.au/sites/default/files/2019-09/Seqwater%20fact%20sheet%20-%20What%20is%20a%20weir.pdf.

 

"See a weir.......KEEP CLEAR!"

 

 

 

[Cake Monster]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Six children had gone swimming to celebrate after a ceremony in the village to celebrate the building of a new tarmac road into the community.

Another terrible story of young Children dying needlessly, while the Parents were P!$$ing it up to celebrate their new Road.

Again ! No parental supervision.

The Parents cry, but its their fault their Lovely Children have died.

RIP Children

[gomangosteen]

I'm unsure just what level of supervision you expect for 10-12 year olds?

At that age, I don't recall having parents with me every moment of the day.

Neither have our two daughters here, now 22 & 17, been watched over every minute.

 

[Bundooman]

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

It's all about education and absence of responsibility.

 

The education part: Life skills need to be taught in schools; particularly water safety and road safety. These are more important skills than anything else a child will learn.

It's difficult to ’teach swimming’ because many village schools do not have the facilities - but, water safety can still be taught.

Children will be children and stopping them from doing these things is always going to be difficult, so educate them of the risks; teach them that they could die if they go in the water, teach them what to do if they get into trouble, educate them about the steep sides they may not be able to exit from etc, teach them how to use anything nearby to help assist others in difficulty (ropes, branches etc).

 

And this is where the responsibility comes in: those in positions of decision making power take no responsibility in these tragic events. They [those in positions of power] could impact some change with instigation of very basic systems, measures and messages in schools and on TV. 

 

 

 

This is exactly what is needed.  But going one step further, but nearer to home, if the parents know, (wherever they are living in this country,) that children are swimming somewhere that is likely to be dangerous, i.e., fast-flowing water/weir, steep-sided banks and deep water, etc., then surely it would take very little to construct some simple platforms or basic structures where children could get to, if in trouble in water areas such as this?

 

I'm not saying that this is the answer, because it's true that children, as we all did, take risks, but surely these swimming areas are known to all villagers. It is they who should take the initiative and demand that the village council implement some basic safety measures in these places.

 

Lifebuoy rings similar to those at western seaside resorts might help too if they were secured to a wooden stand, (even though the kids might play on them), they would be there..

 

You'll never stop the children from going there, but there are some measures they could put in place. But sadly, the will and thought process to do something is not there. This will just happen again ........ and again ...............

[jschorr]

Another sad day for children in Thailand.  As the article stated, drowning is the leading cause of death for children 1 to 14.  We at the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club and at the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, Phuket are addressing this problem in our local areas.  For example, in Chiang Mai and Phrao we work with the municipal (tessabon) schools to give every 4th grader the opportunity to learn survival swimming and water safety in a 15-hour course, which includes 10 hours of in-pool swimming instruction by our team of professional Thai swim instructors.  We use a local sport club pool and the schools transport the kids from each school to our pool for the classes.  This might look like it is outrageously expensive, but we can do this for about 800 B / kid.  We teach about 350 4th-graders each year in Chiang Mai and another 200 in very rural Phrao.  Over the past 6 years we have taught over 4,000 kids in Thailand!  It can be done!!  If you know of an organization that would like to start a similar program in their community, message me here.  We will be happy to provide training and lessons we have learned from our years of experience. Finally, even if you cannot take on an instructional program, you can identify drowning risk areas and report them to local leaders and encourage them to build fences, or at least post warnings, around open, dangerous water, equip local pools and swim areas with life saving equipment, hooks, life rings, CPR courses for pool staff, etc. The World Health Organization has excellent resources and guides on how to improve water safety in your community.  OK, long message, but an important topic!!

[phetpeter]

Swimming skills don't need to be taught in a swimming pool, a supervised training can be undertaken, in any water, maybe at a temple ground, farmer pond swallow river etc., or perhaps a district should invest in a pool that could be transport to a district for the sole purpose of giving students the education and basic skills when playing in or need the water., plus reminding farmers to stop filling their ponds with tree branches to stop people stealing their fish, plus making sure there is a ramp or step/rope area incase someone falls in to be able to get out.

[bkk6060]

If they don't teach them to swim, to drive, and a healthy lifestyle the deaths will continue to unaccepatble numnbers.

[edogthong]

No adult supervision? So what? These adults already let their kids ride motorbikes illegally and hadn't taught them about the dangers of strong currents. They most likely didn't know themselves how dangerous this was. It's not just the kids that are uneducated. This is extremely tragic because kids died. What's even more tragic is that it will happen again even though it's entirely preventable. 

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, Hans Johnson said:

This is sad story with the loss of unsupervised children which is common here. 
 

We have children swimming in the klong  behind my house and About two years ago I cold hear a young child crying and found two in the water clinging to the edge, one about 2 years old and pulled them out. We took them to the community head with the story with my wife complaining about the situation of children swimming there. I did not get a thank you for saving the children or the parents come to the house. My wife is angry as the children still swim there. 
 

They need to educate communities and schools of the dangers of entering water if they cannot swim.

Are most, if not all of the swimming pools in Thailand still closed because of the pandemic? If most of the swimming pools are not open, then how can anyone, especially children learn to swim?

Children are all together in classrooms and the playgrounds, so why not in the swimming pools?

[Billy Bloggs]

4 hours ago, ALLSEEINGEYE said:

Not one school I ever went to in Canada ever had a swimming pool yet somehow we still all managed to go to swim class. I'll give some of the slower posters on here a bit of time to figure out the logistics of how that might be possible...........

Yes at least once a week on my morning walks buses full of school kids pass me off on outings, they could just as easily be off to swimming lessons.

[Billy Bloggs]

1 hour ago, gomangosteen said:

I'm unsure just what level of supervision you expect for 10-12 year olds?

At that age, I don't recall having parents with me every moment of the day.

Neither have our two daughters here, now 22 & 17, been watched over every minute.

 

Maybe a level of supervision equal to their level of water awareness.

 

[ChrisKC]

Schools don't need their own swimming pools!

 

There are thousands of swimming pools all over Thailand at Resorts and hotels. 

 

 

Why not have some arrangement that allows very young children in 1st and 2nd grade with professionals who know what they are doing use these pools from time time when Resorts are not busy, Even in High season, whatever that might mean these days, there could be a two hour session in which many children could get some basics of "water sense".

 

Not all the children go at one time - it would need to be properly managed and financed - Government, The Schools?

 

This is business for resorts as well as being a useful curricular event for the schools and children.

 

I am not about to say how all this might operate in real life but merely suggesting something that might save some lives, not to mention, learning to swim is pretty easy for children and it is fun!

[ikke1959]

5 hours ago, roo860 said:

Of course all village schools have their own swimming pools.

If you really want a solution then you can find one... easy to say oh there are no swimmingpools... as some else wrote already.. children can be thaught about dangers of the waters and so on ...... do nothing will never solve a problem

[VocalNeal]

Even if they could swim, children would jump into the water not knowing or realizing there is no way out. I.e. a ladder. 

This accident could have been as simple as that. Maybe that is why the other two went for help?

[Tropicalevo]

????

[it is what it is]

15 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Even if they could swim, children would jump into the water not knowing or realizing there is no way out. I.e. a ladder. 

This accident could have been as simple as that. Maybe that is why the other two went for help?

this is true, as is a person able to swim never drowned. however, learning to swim does reduce the risk of drowning and when learning to swim basic water common sense/safety should be included. but in the end of the day children will be children and dangerous things are often the exciting things. at my school the swimming pool was covered by a thick plastic sheet to keep the water warm when not being used, we used to sneak into the pool area and enjoy swimming under the plastic sheet- i shudder to think about it now.

[cracker1]

In Some countries children are taught to swim while they attend school.

They are also taught about "Road Safety" and have their bicycles checked by the legal authorities.

Does that happen here in Thailand?

 

[BangkokReady]

"When will the drownings end?"

"When will the motorcycle deaths end?"

"When will the crossing accidents end?"

"When will the corruption end?"

"When will the cheating end?"

 

Answer: when Thai people decide that they want to change these things...

[nightfox]

7 hours ago, roo860 said:

Of course all village schools have their own swimming pools.

Exactly, most don't even have paved roads" example ceremony in the village to celebrate the building of a new tarmac road into the community" Those that don't live in rural issan don't understand that this is the way of life as parents let their kids do what they want. I bet these same kids aged 10-12 rode their parents motorbikes to go swimming. 

[terryofcrete]

7 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

RIP and condolences. Same thing happening year after year here.

Think you are the first one to actually say that... may I add my sympathies to your kind words.

[Jorgendk]

9 hours ago, roo860 said:

Of course all village schools have their own swimming pools.

No they do not. But seem to have no trobel getting the studens to all other less importent outings.

[bristolgeoff]

I think many thai kids don,t do swimming lessons.you see them on the beach and stay on the edges of the water.Adults are the same too no swim lessons at all

 

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, Almer said:

Children will be children, education in the classroom would help 

Parents who allow children aged 10-12 to go off on a motorbike to a weir swimming unsupervised need the education.

What were they doing after a ceremony to greet a tarmac road for gods sake?

Eating, drinking sleeping?

[kcpattaya]

19 hours ago, Almer said:

education in the classroom would help

Swimming lessons you mean...

[JCauto]

While most posters have identified the need for improving swimming skills (something that surely needs to be done), I think many are still missing the point.

 

You CAN'T swim out from being trapped under a weir in some flow conditions no matter what your skill level may be. These structures are inherently dangerous in this respect because the backwater flow is an integral and necessary part of the structure in order to dissipate energy from the water flows that would otherwise erode and undermine the structure from downstream. More consideration needs to be given to preventing access to and warning about these important and necessary water control structures to prevent unplanned and unnecessary deaths.

[recom273]

19 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

It's all about education and absence of responsibility.

 

The education part: Life skills need to be taught in schools; particularly water safety and road safety. These are more important skills than anything else a child will learn.

It's difficult to ’teach swimming’ because many village schools do not have the facilities - but, water safety can still be taught.

Children will be children and stopping them from doing these things is always going to be difficult, so educate them of the risks; teach them that they could die if they go in the water, teach them what to do if they get into trouble, educate them about the steep sides they may not be able to exit from etc, teach them how to use anything nearby to help assist others in difficulty (ropes, branches etc).

 

And this is where the responsibility comes in: those in positions of decision making power take no responsibility in these tragic events. They [those in positions of power] could impact some change with instigation of very basic systems, measures and messages in schools and on TV. 

 

 

 

We never had a pool at our school.

 

What our school did was encourage us to think, a skill that can’t be copied down from a blackboard. 

[Catoni]

On 9/12/2022 at 4:23 AM, NemoH said:

We should build more communal swimming pools .. so painfully sad…

Kids drown in swimming pools also. They must be taught to swim. 

 

[puchooay]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:28 AM, Catoni said:

  People who don’t want to make sure their children become excellent swimmers when they begin to walk, shouldn’t be having kids. 
ESPECIALLY if they live near water. 
  It only takes two or three minutes for tragedy to happen in water to a child who does not know drown-proofing or how to swim. Or ANYONE who doesn’t know drown-proofing or know how to swim. 
 There is not much sadder than pulling the limp, lifeless, not breathing body of a little boy or girl out of the water, And then the family has to make funeral arrangements. 

There is nothing in the news story that suggests they vould not swim.