Children, adults urged to stay safe around water this summer
Children and adults die in preventable drownings in lakes, back yards and hotel pools every year across Canada.
Summertime is the most common time of year for drownings, with Saskatchewan averaging 20 deaths each year, according to Lifesaving Society Saskatchewan. Across the country, more than a dozen drowning deaths have already been reported this summer.
According to the Lifesaving Society, 85 per cent of drowning deaths involve men. Being alone on the water and not wearing a proper life jacket are the biggest factors in drowning deaths in Saskatchewan.
“In 100 per cent of cases, people aren’t wearing a life jacket,” Courtney Domoney, education director with the Lifesaving Society Saskatchewan, told paNOW. “That will save your life, and people just straight up aren’t wearing it.”