LIMPOPO – This after a 14-year-old boy drowned in an irrigation dam on a farm in Groblersdal on Sunday, 15 December.
Police Spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo says Bafana Boshielo had gone to visit his mother at her workplace, a farm in the Groblersdal area.
Read more: Four children die in three separate drowning incidents across Limpopo
He was playing with his friends alongside the dam when the incident occurred. It is alleged that the group decided to swim and that is when the teenager drowned. According to reports, his peers rushed to get help but it was too late to save him.
He was certified dead on the scene by emergency services personnel, Mojapelo concludes.
Parents need to understand that summertime is a fun time with great weather for children to play in and around water, however, they must be mindful that swimming can be potentially very dangerous. It is important to know what types of precautions to take and what needs to be aware of in terms of keeping their children safe in the water.
Basic water safety rules:
- Water safety starts with correct supervision.
- Children cannot be left alone in the swimming pool even though is kiddies pool.
- Parents should always exercise the touch and reach supervision strategy, which means that they are always within an arm’s length of the child.
- Parents shouldn’t leave the smaller children under the supervision of other older children as this is a fatal exercise and practice.
- Invite other parents and adults to help supervise a bigger number of children in the pool as one adult can only manage a few.
- If there will be children swimming at a bigger gathering, be sure to designate pool guards who do not drink or socialise and be alert at all times.
- Basic CPR is essential to parents and life guards with children who have access to pools.
- Floaters or inflatable devices are not an alternative to supervision, as they will not prevent children from drowning.
- Create basic rules for swimming pool like no running, no diving and no swimming alone.
Swimming pool drowning prevention:
- There is no substitute for a four-sided fence around swimming-pool.
- The fencing around the swimming pool must not be able to be climbed by children over and it must have a self-closing or self-latching gate that is above the reach of children.
- Around the swimming pool, there shouldn’t be any items nearby that would allow children to climb up over the fence to excess the pool.
- Other children in the neighbourhood should not have access into the yard also as this will lure them to jump over the boundary fence into the premises to access the swimming pool.
- Pool covers, door alarms, and pool alarms work well in conjunction with fences but they are not a substitute for a four-sided pool fence.
- Swimming pools should be covered with pool-net at all times whenever not in use.
- Keep toys away from nearby the swimming pool when not being used.
- Air-filled or floating devices are not substitution to life jackets. They are not meant to be used as safety devices.
