Danger at sea

WITH the monsoons gearing up to rule the waves, beachgoers in Karachi should ideally be reminding themselves that extra precaution is needed at a time when the sea will be particularly rough. However, the number of drowning incidents each year makes it fairly obvious that lessons are rarely drawn from the fate of those who are swept away by strong tides, never to return alive. It is, in fact, the lack of public discipline that can be cited as a major reason for deaths caused by drowning each year. Bathers, most of whom have never learned to swim, go much beyond the shoreline placing their lives at considerable risk. They pay heed neither to the seasonal ban of the city government on bathing nor to the advice of lifeguards who warn them against going into the sea. The job of safeguarding those who frequent the beach is thus made harder by a public that is not in the least cooperative — even when it is its own safety that is in question.

Sadly, the government, too, does not seem to care much. A recent news item in this paper described the appalling state of the city government’s Emergency Response Centre that appears to be chronically under-resourced. With only a handful of divers numbering some 30 men, its lifeguards can hardly be expected to man a 22-km stretch of the coastline. Their services may be supplemented by the divers of an NGO like PALS which has some 100 trained lifeguards. But even then there is not enough protection for the throngs of reckless beachgoers who visit the seaside during the summer months when the water is at its most turbulent. All over the world people enjoy the seaside and there is no reason why Karachi residents should not do so as well. In fact, swimming and other water sports should be promoted. However, leisure must be combined with adequate safety measures to ensure that a dip in the sea does not prove fatal. As for those who violate the law, stiff, on-the-spot monetary penalties should be part of the strategy to deter would-be bathers when there is a ban on entering the waters.

Posted on: 18-June-2008

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