Drowning people do not shout or wave their hands: how to notice the tragedy on the water in time

Summer is a period of vacations and trips to the beaches. A beach holiday with the family is one of the main pleasures in the hot season. Often we see rescuers who do not take their eyes off the pond, and this is all because we may not notice the drowning person. After all, a drowning person often does not look like how he is portrayed in films. At first glance, many may not even notice that he needs help.

Francesco Pia Ph.D. determined the behavior of a drowning man as an "instinctive reaction of a drowning man": no shouts, exclamations of "help, drown!" or waving your arms. Drowning often happens silently and unnoticed.

What does a drowning person really look like?

The drowning man's mouth is alternately under water, then above its surface. On the surface of the water, he only has time to inhale and exhale. Speech is a secondary function of the respiratory system, while breathing is the main function. Therefore, a drowning person is physically unable to call for help.

Drowning people cannot wave their arms to attract attention. They instinctively stretch their arms out to the sides in an attempt to push off the water. These movements allow them to float to the surface in order to be able to breathe.

The body of a drowning person is constantly in an upright position, without movement of the legs, it is an instinctive reaction. And if they do not come to the rescue, then in just 20-60 seconds it can completely go under water.

Due to an instinctive reaction, they cannot control their movements, nor can they swim closer to the rescuers or to the lifebuoy.

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From the side it may seem to you that the person just relaxed in the water and looks up, but at this moment he may need help. The simplest thing you can do is ask if he is okay. If there is no answer, then you need to immediately start rescue measures.

Simple tips to help you immediately understand if a person needs to be saved:

• unfocused, glassy look;
• the head of a drowning man in the water, and his mouth is at the very surface;
• a drowning person throws his head back so that his mouth is as close to the surface of the water as possible;
• eyes may be closed;
• the drowning person will try to roll over onto his back;
• short breaths, breath trapping;
• the eyes and forehead cover the hair (if their length is enough for this);
• unsuccessful attempts to swim in a certain direction;
• the person is kept in the water in an upright position, while not moving his legs;
• climbing movements, as if the victim is trying to climb a rope ladder.

This does not mean at all that the person calling for help and desperately waving his arms is deceiving you. Most likely, he had a panic attack in the water. Often, it does not last long, and unlike real drowning, those who call for help are able to take meaningful actions to save themselves: shouting, waving their arms, actively working with their legs and helping rescuers, for example, grab onto a lifebuoy.

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Among children under 15, drowning in water is the second most common cause of death after road traffic crashes. Most often, cases of drowning occur when parents are nearby and simply do not notice that something is wrong.

It should be remembered that a child playing in the water makes noise, talks, makes sounds. If the children are silent, immediately get them out of the water and find out what happened.