Following the scare of this pandemic and due to the success of the first edition of this type of articles, I have been encouraged to continue with it because I believe it is important that we all are aware of risk situations that we normally do not identify may exist, and thus contribute to preventing their outcomes.

BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU SWIM!

With these summer heats, we all want to be in the water. But be careful about where you choose to swim because there are places that seem harmless but hide a serious risk of drowning. And if you enter one of them, you are lost, with no possibility of rescue.

Let me tell you about one of these cases that made headlines, as it involved a footballer of certain prestige playing in the First Division.

An irrigation canal in one of our agricultural provinces. We have all seen these types of canals running parallel to the cultivated lands for hundreds of kilometers. The water flow is regulated by the guards of the facilities according to the needs, with levels saved by steps (waterfall) that converge in a ditch.

The appearance is harmless since the water falls from the waterfall to a sandpit or speed dissipator, without noticeable internal contradictory currents in that area, and the flow continues through the open channelization.

One particular day, a group of people decided to go to this area of the canal to swim, where there was no signage prohibiting it. The first one jumps over the small wall of just 80 cm and slides down the step or waterfall, sliding to the dissipator area. There, he is dragged by the internal currents and sucked to the bottom. Despite his athletic build, it is impossible for him to get out because the currents prevent it, and there was nothing to hold onto. One of his companions went to help him, who also got sucked in. Both were found drowned, carried by the current, about 20 meters away.

This is a ditch, part of an open-air canal, with no apparent risk, no signage indicating the danger or prohibiting recreational swimming, nor delimited with collective protections. I must tell you that this is how all the irrigation canals in our country are, so there is a high probability that it will happen again.

You might think it's an unusual place to swim, but who hasn't been to a lovely rural house, and nearby, after a walk or bike ride, you find the canal calling you...

In short, you are warned, never swim in an irrigation canal because, as we have seen, it is very dangerous.

Alberto Garom

#risks #insurance #drowning