Following the tragic drowning of two young ladies at Elegushi beach in Lagos on Sunday, the absence of appropriate safety measures in Nigerian beaches seems to have dawned on a lot of Nigerians. The people have now taken to social media with #SaveLivesAtTheBeach to condemn the jarring negligence of the appropriate authorities.
Close friends, witnesses and others commenting on the deaths of the ladies – Shola and Funmi – lament that if adequate measures such as a trained patrol unit, emergency rescue team and a sound alarm/warning system were in place at the beach, the tragic incident could have been prevented. Even in light of the fact that the girls, reportedly, could not swim.
The sad reality is that the aforementioned is the truth. A person’s ability or inability to swim can certainly play a vital role in keeping them safe when around bodies of water, but matters very little when faced with a rip current, for instance. Rip currents are powerful channels of fast-moving water that frequently and suddenly flow towards beaches and thus, even the strongest swimmer might not stand a chance, especially if they panic.
Therefore, it is only natural that non-swimmers such as Shola and Funmi, or weaker swimmers panic when faced with such a scary situation. Witnesses of the horrific event state that both ladies were terrified, causing them to hold on tightly to each other and eventually drown by accident. This makes the argument on social media about how such fatalities can be avoided very relevant.
Drowning is the third cause of unintentional death worldwide, with an estimated 372,000 deaths every year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The dangers associated with water sources has led to the development and improvement of safety measures in such areas in different parts of the world.
A usual scenario that plays out when people visit beaches is that people, swimmers and non-swimmers alike, cautiously avoid the water. However, there are always those willing to make the most of their visit to the beach and this involves “playing in the water.”
In an attempt to protect members of the latter group, various safety measures are commonly practised in beaches in most parts of the world that attract tourists and ‘beach lovers.’ Unfortunately, this is not the case in Nigeria.
Without a doubt, it is in the best interest of individuals to learn how to swim and be knowledgeable about general safety around natural water sources. However, accidents can happen anywhere and anytime and to anyone, and some of them are very preventable. This reality calls for all hands to be on deck in order to mitigate disasters such as the drowning of two young women yesterday. Essentially, this means ensuring that beaches in the country put the necessary infrastructure for safety in place.
