HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommends that everyone wear a lifejacket if out on the water this Memorial Day weekend.
Over the last 10 years, 88% of drowning victims are male, 84% are not wearing a life jacket and 27% are from falls overboard.
According to the Corps, it only takes an average of 20 seconds for a child to drown and 60 seconds for an adult. Never let your children swim by themselves. Adult supervision is a must.
Swimming ability may decrease with age, especially if you don’t practice regularly. Always wear your life jacket, especially in natural-water conditions like lakes, rivers, and oceans where wave action and current can impact your ability to swim.
Also, learn to identify the four signs of a person who is drowning. The drowning signs are head back, mouth open, no sound and arms slapping the water in an up and down motion. Sixty percent of the time people who drown were either witnessed by someone or there were people in the area that could have helped save them if they knew how to identify drowning.
Many people drown within 10-30 feet of safety. The proper ways to rescue someone in the water that is in distress is to “reach, throw, row, and don’t go.” Reach something out to the person without endangering yourself, throw them something that floats, row your boat close to the person with the motor off. Never attempt an in-water rescue unless you are trained to do so in natural waters.
Instead, go for help or send someone else for help. Often a double-drowning occurs when someone enters the water to attempt a rescue because a person fighting for their life is extremely strong and in order to stay afloat they will hold the person who is trying to help them underwater.
The most important thing you should do while recreating in, on, or near the water is to always wear a life jacket and encourage others to do so.