Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

A 12-YEAR-OLD child drowned in a swimming pool in a Yantian hotel Sunday, according to the city’s health and family planning commission.

The city’s prehospital care center has received 11 reports of drowning accidents as of Sunday this year. Five of the accidents occurred in Dapeng New Area, including two reported deaths. Another two accidents happened in Dameisha and Xiaomeisha in Yantian District, while the remaining four cases were reported in Longhua, Futian, Longgang and Nanshan districts.

There are 56 beaches in Shenzhen, with most of them located in Dapeng New Area and Yantian District. Among them, 45 are “wild beaches” without lifeguards or safety facilities.

Yang Zijiang, director of the Dapeng Peninsula coastal safety promotion center and a political adviser in Shenzhen, said that the city has a swimming pool lifesaving system, but it doesn’t have a seashore lifesaving system and most of the beaches in the city don’t have professional lifeguards or safety facilities.

Statistics from the city’s prehospital care center showed that three of the 11 above-mentioned drowning accidents involved children below the age of 12, including a 1-year-old baby and a 10-month-old infant who almost drowned when bathing at home. Parents are advised to pay close attention to their children when they are swimming or taking a bath.

According to the center, the first four minutes after a person drowns is the best time to give emergency treatment, because the person’s brain and other organs might suffer irreversible damage after four minutes.

People are advised to use different first-aid methods depending on the drowned person’s responsiveness. If a person is unconscious but breathing, the rescuer should call 120, clear objects from the person’s mouth and nose and help him take a position lying on his side. If the person isn’t breathing but still has pulse, rescue ventilation and artificial respiration are necessary.

If the person stops breathing and doesn’t have pulse, the rescuer should clear objects from the person’s mouth and nose and begin the airway-breathing-compression (ABC) sequence.

Attempts to actively expel water from the airway with abdominal thrusts, the Heimlich maneuver or positioning the head downwards should be avoided as there is no solid obstruction, while the delay in starting ventilation and increased risk of vomiting could lead to a significantly increased risk of death, according to the center.