Family wants mandatory lifeguards at swimming pool after woman drowns

Family wants mandatory lifeguards at swimming pool after woman drowns

 source:

Asma Ali Zain/Deputy Chief Reporter and Sajila Saseendran/Senior Reporter Monday, May 25, 2015
40-year-old Najia Alavi, an expert swimmer, drowned at the rooftop pool of her building in Al Nahda.

Most buildings in Dubai have put up notices at pools saying, ‘Any person using the pool do so at their own risk’.  — KT file photo

Dubai  - The sister of a Pakistani woman who drowned in a swimming pool on May 15 has called upon authorities to impose stricter checks on pools in residential buildings.

Recent incidents > On May 4, a 15-month-old baby of French origin drowned in the swimming pool of his family’s villa in Dubai. The mother was charged with negligence > In June 2012, a nine-year-old Indian boy died after drowning in the rooftop pool at a birthday party he was attending > In April 2011, the eight-year-old daughter of famous Indian playback singer K.S. Chithra’s drowned in a villa pool in Dubai

Heartbroken and still reeling under the shock from the sudden death of her elder sister Najia Alavi, Rabia Alavi says that authorities should make it compulsory for managements to deploy a life guard at residential building pools at all times.
“How many more lives will we lose before any action is taken?,” asks Rabia.
 “If parents are held responsible for the death of their children in cases of drowning, who is then responsible in this case?” she asks.

Like any other normal Friday afternoon, Najia, 40, went swimming at the rooftop pool of her building in Al Nahda and as usual, no one was present to monitor the swimmers.
Najia, an expert swimmer, had returned from Canada five months ago to join her parents in Dubai where she was born and raised.

She was a young, well-known face in Pakistani circles mainly because she was very passionate about her work.

On the day of the incident, Najia’s younger brother – who had planned to join her a little later for swimming – found the pool empty when he came in. “He thought she was in the changing room,” explains Rabia.

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But a while later when he swam towards the deep end of the pool, he found her lying motionless at the bottom. “He panicked and called the watchman of the building. They then pulled Najia out of the pool,” she says.

The events that ensued are too hazy for Rabia to describe. “My parents, who live in the same building, came up to the rooftop, paramedics were called and she was rushed to the Dubai Hospital.”
But no one knew how long she had been under water and what had happened. She had no obvious signs of injury to her head or anywhere else on her body.

Najia was revived in hospital. She was critical but had a stable pulse for 20 minutes until her condition deteriorated suddenly and she passed away at 6 in the evening. “Doctors concluded that she fainted while swimming and drowned.” Like several buildings in Dubai, the management has put up a notice at the pool entrance that reads ‘Any person using the swimming pool do so at their own risk.“Can the management get away by just putting up a board?” asks Rabia. “When they are responsible for maintaining the pool, then why are there no regulations that make it compulsory for them to hire a lifeguard?”

At present, lifeguards are only mandatory at public pools including those at hotels and resorts.
“Such accidents can happen with a person of any age,” she says. “Only if someone was present, she might still have been alive,” adds Rabia. Recently, the Dubai Police announced that deaths by drowning had dropped in the emirate.

Twenty people died in Dubai last year as compared to 27 deaths in 2013.
“My sister…my friend, cannot just become a statistic…I know she would have fought till the end for a cause. Now that she is no longer here, I will continue to campaign on her behalf,” says Rabia. -

(With inputs from Amira Agarib)
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
sajila@khaleejtimes.com

Dubai to hire lifeguards for open beaches

Candidates required to monitor swimmers, carry out rescue work in the case of drowning

By Shuchita Kapur

Published Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Both male and female applicants are invited to apply for the position (Ashok Verma)

Dubai Municipality is looking to hire lifeguards in Dubai. Both male and female applicants are invited to apply for the position, which is for open beaches in the city.
The salary on offer is Dh4,679. Interested candidates should send a copy of their CV with qualification, experience, certificates and a copy of the passport to job@dm.gov.ae
The ideal candidates should have 7 years’ experience and be within the age group of 25 to 35 years.
For the job, the candidates are required to monitor swimmers in assigned beaches, should be able to carry out rescue work in the case of drowning, perform immediate artificial respiration on drowned people and should immediately report such cases to competent authorities as per procedures and specified mechanism.
This website reported late last year that there would be more lifeguards to patrol Dubai beaches.
For example, the Parks and Recreation Section at the Public Parks and Horticulture Department at Dubai Municipality employed 35 lifeguards in October of 2014, and had hired 18 new lifeguards then.
Lifeguards are employed on the three recreational beaches in Dubai including Jumeirah Beach Park, Umm Suqeim Beach and Al Mamzar Beach.
In line with the efforts to increase the presence of lifeguards on public beaches, lifeguards have been installed at several open beaches over the years, such as Jumeirah Open Beach.
Despite the presence of lifeguards, the authorities also put several warning signs and restricted areas for swimmers because even after repeated warnings, some people do not take the safety measures in considerations, say authorities.
But with increased vigilance, there were fewer cases of drowning at sea in Dubai in 2014. The number of maritime incidents attended to by Dubai Police’s Maritime Rescue team went down from 57 in 2013 to 39 in 2014, including drowning cases and sea search and rescue.
Of the 39 incidents in 2014, 28 were drowning incidents, involving 40 people, three of whom unfortunately died.

Lifeguard rescue video shows how hard it can be to spot a drowning child

 Source:
Lifeguard rescue video shows how hard it can be to spot a drowning child

 In the above photo, a child is drowning. Can you spot him?

A new viral video showing a lifeguard rescue points out just how difficult it can be to identify when a swimmer in distress, and that it takes a sharp eye to keep watch over swimmers in a crowded pool.

The video, posted by Kevin Rowland, the manager of the Whirlin' Waters Adventure Park in North Charleston, S.C., shows dozens of swimmers in a public wave pool. Within a few moments, a lifeguard dives into the water after having spotted a small boy flailing after his inner-tube capsized.

"I started taking them for training purposes and now people all over the world see them for lifeguard training sessions," Rowland told ABC News of the video. "I never really saw real life situations to compare it to, and kids these days getting trained need something scarier to hold their attention."

Rowland has posted 20 more examples of the near-drownings on his Lifeguard Rescue YouTube page, hoping the videos will help people spot the subtle signs of drowning. Experts say that noticing these signs in time can make the difference between life and death at the pool this summer.

On Good Morning America, Baltimore JCC aquatic director Bill Kirkner said people often look for the wrong signs when trying to identify if someone is drowning.

"When the movies have that person that's making all sorts of motion and everything else, that is not really what it's like," said Kirkner. "If a person can make that noise and everything else, they might be in trouble, but they're still, 'OK.'"

According to ABC News, in 10 percent of drownings, nearby adults had no idea it was happening.

Experts say that when someone is drowning, they often cannot make noise or wave their arms. Instead, adults should look for a head bobbing above and below the surface, tilted back with an open mouth and vertical body.

"They're not able to do anything other than gasping for air," said Dr. Morgen Bernius, an emergency medicine doctor at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, to ABC News.