More than 500 drowning cases reported in Oman

Muscat: More than 500 drowning incidents were reported in Oman in 2021, a recent statistics has revealed.

A report by the Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA) said on Wednesday that the water rescue teams dealt with 521 calls of drowning accidents in 2021. “So, swimming requires caution and should not be carried out in undesignated sites,” it warned.

Irina Samakar, a swim coach at the Nautilus Swimming Club in Oman, said it is important for all to learn swimming.

“Often, I see that some adults who accompany their children to pools do not have any swimming abilities of their own,” she said.  

“Adults feel ashamed of admitting that they don’t know how to swim. However, this is an extremely important skill that is needed when you need to save your child’s life.

“Let us not forget unfortunate news we sometimes read of children and adults drowning in wadis because they did not know how to swim, and because there wasn’t anyone around to immediately save them,” she added.

Experts say there is a high likelihood of drowning among people in three age groups; “children aged five and under, adolescents and the elderly are the vulnerable groups.

“The usual places of drowning for children are swimming pools, bathtubs, buckets and natural bodies of water. Epilepsy, medical illness and use of alcohol or illicit drugs are risk factors for drowning among children and adolescents,” she said.

She also said that lack of parents’ education, infants or children under five (especially males) left unsupervised are factors that enhances significantly the risk of drowning.

“Given Oman’s vast coastline that covers most of the southeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, we found that incidents of drowning in the country are quite common, especially in wadis and involve those who do not know how to swim, and occur mostly in summer months,” she added.