Five Auckland drownings within 48 hours

An Auckland swim instructor says the number of water-related deaths over the summer period has left her shocked.

Two people died after getting into trouble in the water at Piha on Saturday night with emergency services called to the beach just after 6pm.

It caps a horror 48 hours on the water in Auckland with two drownings on Friday and another yesterday morning.

Skillz4life managing director Jackie Foster said the numbers were hugely concerning.

“I’m absolutely shocked with the statistics that are coming out at the moment,” she said.

“It’s quite concerning and it should be concerning for the whole country.

“Moving forward, we’re surrounded by water and when it comes down to it, we as a country need to step up and the government need to start getting involved.”

The Skillz4life swimming programs focusses on assisting children to learn to swim.

But Foster said urgent measures needed to be put in place around water safety education at primary school level.

Lifeguard shortages had also forced cutbacks to operating hours in South Canterbury, which had reportedly impacted learn to swim programmes and squad training.

Dwindling levels of funding for school swimming programmes and facilities were also a factor, Foster said.

“It’s quite scary,” she said.

“I go into a lot of primary schools in the Auckland region … some of the school pools are struggling to stay open.

“We need to educate them (children) as much as we can when they’re at primary school.”

File photo.
Photo: 123rf.com

This is to ensure people were better equipped to make “better decisions” in the water, she said.

“We ask these kids to go home and talk to their parents and it’s interesting because they come back and say ‘well my parents can’t swim’.

“We need to start getting back in the home and getting parents to understand how bad it can be if you do get caught in a rip, what will they do.

“I don’t think our tamariki are spending enough time in the water these days.”

Plea to swim only at guarded beaches

Surf lifeguards in Auckland are pleading with the public to only swim at lifeguarded beaches during patrol hours.

Two people drowned at unpatrolled beaches on Friday, one at Narrow Neck Beach on Auckland’s North Shore, and another at Big Manly Beach on the Whangaparāoa peninsula.

On Saturday, one person died at Takapuna, while the two drownings at North Piha happened after patrol had ended for the day with lifeguards’ attempts to rescue them proving unsuccessful.

Lifeguards at Raglan yesterday also performed two mass rescues of 13 and 16 people respectively, and performed a total of 32 rescues throughout the day.

Surf Life Saving’s Northern Region chief executive Matt Williams said it had been a week of unnecessary tragedies along the coastline and issued a stern warning to potential swimmers.

“Put it in bold … swim between the flags during patrol hours,” he said.

“All of the drownings and tragedies we’ve seen this week, they have had one thing in common, they’ve not been at lifeguarded beaches during lifeguarded hours.

“That is the one key (message ) we need to get through.”

File photo.
Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson

Lifeguards across the region had already performed a total of 43 rescues, 11 assists, and four major first aid operations this weekend.

Every drowning hit lifeguards hard, he said.

“It’s really tough for our lifeguards when they are involved in in an unsuccessful rescue attempt – every death is one we take personally.

“Our guards take every possible step to ensure our patrolled beaches are safe.”

Williams said his staff were seeing no improvements around the behaviors of people entering the water.

“I think every summer has been worse than the one before and we’re not seeing the behaviours change.

“The ocean is dangerous, it’s unkind, it’s not going to treat you well if you’re not prepared and the public keep flouting those key rules.

“We’re putting the services on to support them, but we’re not seeing them use those services.”