Korat kids learn water survival techniques as drowning deaths soar

 

Picture: Sanook

 

KORAT: -- More than 200 children have been learning important water survival skills in the school holidays in Korat, reported Sanook.

 

 

The course has been arranged by the education department in Nakorn Ratchasima to try to save the lives of children in the province.

 

Korat has some of the worst drowning statistics for children under 15 in the country.

 

Foundation Huk 31 ran the course at the Maree Withaya School downtown with more than 200 attending from various other schools.

 

The children were shown how to save friends without endangering themselves and everyone learnt how to float in the water in case they fell in.

 

At the end of the course all the children could float effectively thus ensuring that they could easily survive in the event of an accident.

 

Sanook reported that the province has at least 70 water areas - mostly natural - that present a hazard for children.

 

Some 70 children under 15 die annually from drowning in the province making it the leading cause of death in that age group.

 

And it is in the long Songran school holidays and hot season when most deaths occur as children sneak off unsupervised.

 

Over the last five years in April there have been 40, 32, 23, 21 and 40 deaths respectively.

 

There were eleven drowning deaths in the January to March period in the province this year.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-04-20

"Water Survival Skills"? Its called swimming

6 minutes ago, Deez said:

"Water Survival Skills"? Its called swimming

Call it what you like. Around 350 kids in the province drowned in the last 5 years, so any initiative to help kids, swim, float, whatever, is a very good idea. I hope kids nationwide get the same lessons. Countless lives will be saved.

44 minutes ago, Deez said:

"Water Survival Skills"? Its called swimming

More to it than that. You can be a good swimmer and still drown. Treading water, not panicking, don't swim if your drunk, at least not in dangerous waters, understanding dangerous waters etc. What they're doing is good, how good they're doing it is another thing. "It's called swimming" is really a pitiful post to what on the face of it seems a pretty good pro-active scheme that should be repeated around the country.

Pro's and con's in the above posts so lets call it a start. 

It;s about time

I am not a swimmer,  but I do know how to dog paddle, and that saved me at age  5 when  I fell into

a creek on our farm.  My uncle had taught me how  to  dog paddle when I was 3.

So I am glad to  read  about kids getting taught any swimming   or  survival techniques that

can save  their  lives.

Geezer