About 40 people have drowned since the start of the swimming season.
Many people habitually spend their summer holidays near bodies of water to escape the heat. However, not all vacationers think about how dangerous the water element is for unattended children, people with poor health, lovers of “stronger things,” and simply for those who, while having fun, have lost their vigilance.
Last weekend, three people drowned in the republic’s reservoirs. One of the tragedies occurred in the village of Cucuruzen, Orhei district. The search for the eight-year-old child lasted several hours, and divers found his body. Another incident was registered in the Soldanesti region, where a 29-year-old man drowned. A similar incident occurred in the Taraclia region. A 38-year-old local resident became the victim of careless swimming.
Since the beginning of the swimming season, about 40 people have drowned, 7 of them are children. What pulls people to the bottom? AiF in Moldova correspondent tried to figure this out.
Beware of the "green serpent"
For many, outdoor recreation is associated with fried aromatic food and alcohol. Trying to cool off in a river after drinking a lot of alcohol can lead to very sad consequences.
“In my practice, most of those who drowned were intoxicated,” said rescuer with 10 years of experience from the village of Vatra Victor Drochev. – Drinking alcohol impairs coordination of movements, slows down reaction speed, and dulls the sense of danger. In this state, not only swimming, but even walking along the shore is problematic. Because of this, it is often very difficult to understand whether a person is drowning or not. A drowning person may not always scream or attract attention in any other way. At the moment when a person begins to go under water, the only thing he is trying to do is to stay afloat and, having emerged, inhale at least a little oxygen. The rescuer’s task in this case is to monitor what is happening on the water and act immediately. If you are vacationing in areas where there are no rescue workers, do not lose sight of your relatives or friends and do not leave other vacationers in the lurch if you notice something wrong.”
The main thing is not to panic
When we find ourselves in a life-threatening situation, our subconscious mind forces us to behave unpredictably. Some experience a sharp surge of adrenaline, the heart speeds up, providing a surge of strength, while others are lost, not knowing what to do, and fall into a state of shock. Regardless of individual mental characteristics, in a critical situation a person is mastered by the basic instinct of self-preservation.
“Traditionally, we are designed in such a way that all the mechanisms of our subconscious are aimed at preserving life. Starting to drown, we will try by all means to survive. It is very important, no matter how difficult it may be, not to panic, push all negative thoughts into the background and think quickly possible ways salvation. As soon as panic takes hold of us, it becomes almost impossible to control our movements. You should understand that unnecessary worries will not help the matter, but will only exhaust you, putting your life at even greater risk,” she shared with “AiF in Moldova” psychologist Lyudmila Rusu.
Sucked in by a dangerous quagmire
It is worth noting that most of the reported accidents occurred in the waters of the Dniester. Security Specialist environment Anton Alexandrov explained the possible reasons for this: “The Dniester has a fairly strong current and character mountain river. This, together with the uneven depth of the bottom and the narrow channel, contributes to the formation of so-called funnels and other eddies. Because of this, a person often cannot overcome the water element, even if he knows how to swim well. People generally do not calculate their strengths and capabilities while on the water, and simply fail when trying to swim across a river or diving in places unknown to them, where dangerous places and/or anomalous zones may await them.”
adviсe
How to properly prepare for swimming
4 Go to cold water should be done gradually. This is necessary so that the muscles are able to adapt to the temperature and there are no cramps. For the same purpose, before taking water procedures It is recommended to do light exercises and stretch your muscles - this will improve blood circulation.
4 You should not swim in bodies of water where there are no life-saving stations. And in rivers and lakes, do not swim beyond the swimming area marked by buoys.
4 Don't swim during a thunderstorm.
4 Don't swim long distances. If such a swim happens, calculate your capabilities, including the return trip. So, if you feel that you have no strength left for the return swim, DO NOT SWIM! The risk could cost you your life. Get back by boat or bridge. At the very least, get a good rest - let your body recover properly.
4 If you feel that you are starting to drown, do not panic, save your remaining strength and breath, give signs to the saviors and other people. To stay on the water, lie on your back so that only your face (respiratory organs) remains on the surface, and make light movements with your legs and arms underwater. In this state, a person can, using a minimum of effort, long time be on the surface. Keep in mind that your entire body should be submerged, including your ears and hair. The more part of our body we immerse in water, the more life-saving buoyant force will act on us. Every swimmer should know this technique.
In the section on the question Need help. Here's a physics question: Why do people drown in water? given by the author Flush the best answer is The specific gravity of the human body under normal conditions is approximately equal to specific gravity fresh water which this body displaces.
A person falling into a river will almost never sink if he allows the weight of his body to come into line with the weight of the water he displaces - in other words, if he is submerged almost entirely.
When drowning, water enters the lungs. In addition, a large amount of it enters the stomach, and the whole body becomes heavier to the extent that the water is heavier than the air that filled these cavities before. As a rule, this difference is enough for a person to go to the bottom, but not in cases where we are talking about people with thin bones and excess body fat. Such people, even after drowning, continue to float on the surface.
A corpse that sinks to the bottom of the river will remain there until
for some reason its weight will again not become less than the weight of the water it displaces. This could be due to decomposition or something else. During the decomposition process, a gas is formed that expands the cells in the tissues and all cavities, which gives dead bodies that bloatedness that produces such a terrible impression. When such expansion leads to a noticeable increase in the volume of the corpse without a corresponding increase in its mass, it becomes lighter than the water it displaces and floats.
Answer from Good neighborliness[guru]
I don't agree
Answer from Yergey Smolitsky[guru]
The average density of the human body is slightly greater than the density of water (both fresh and salt). BUT! The point is not density, but what is called buoyancy in technology: steel is almost 8 times denser than water, but a steel ship does not sink while it is intact.
So, a person’s buoyancy is positive when inhaling, and negative when exhaling. A person does not drown not because he rows, but because he breathes correctly: during a full exhalation he does not have time to leave the surface and immediately takes a new breath.
A person drowns when, having lost his breath, he does not have time to take a breath, and his buoyancy becomes negative. And he can also inhale water, which will make the situation even worse.
A person cannot drown as long as he breathes correctly (unless, of course, without a stone around his neck or other special devices).
Answer from Alice.[guru]
Fresh water density---0.998 g/cm (3)
Salted --- between 1.02 and 1.03 g/cm (3)
Density of the human body taking into account everything --- 1.07 g/cm (3)
A person is a little heavier anyway, and if he doesn’t row, sooner or later he won’t be able to hold on.
With the onset of hot days, people increasingly go to the water to relax. Swimming can end in tragedy, which can be prevented if you know how to recognize a drowning person. Most of us are accustomed to thinking that a drowning person waves his arms, screams loudly and generally attracts attention to himself in every possible way. But usually this is not the case at all. Drowning occurs very quickly and quietly, right in front of unsuspecting people.
How to understand that a person is drowning, what are the signs of drowning, AiF.ru told Senior State Inspector of the Irkutsk GIMS EMERCOM Alexander Yashenko.
“Yes, there really is a misconception that a person drowns when he starts screaming, waving his arms, knocking on the water and attracting attention to himself in every possible way. In fact, when a person begins to drown for various reasons, he does not scream. He immediately falls into a stupor and begins to drown,” he said.
Experienced rescuers primarily rely on their eyes: a drowning person has a blank, glassy look. A drowning person usually does not attract attention to himself, many even think that this is just a game on the water, pampering, this especially applies to children: the child will either appear above the water, or dive headfirst. According to the expert, when a person drowns, it is rarely accompanied by any sounds, waving of arms and a lot of splashes, as we see in films. IN real life This is extremely rare. “Of course, if a person in the water calls for help and waves his arms, this does not mean that he is deceiving. Most likely, this is a panic attack on the water, we must definitely help such a person,” says Yashenko.
When you swim, you should pay attention to the people around you, especially children.
Signs that indicate a person is drowning
- the head is immersed in the water, the mouth is located at the very surface of the water;
- head thrown back, mouth open;
- the eyes express nothing, empty, as if glassy, do not focus on anything;
- eyes closed;
- hair covers forehead and eyes;
- a person stays on the water in an upright position only with his hands, without moving his legs;
- breathing is frequent and shallow, the person gasps for air;
- a person tries to swim in a certain direction, but he fails, he remains in one place;
— the person tries to roll over onto his back.
“By the way, trying to lie on your back is one of the methods of self-rescue. If in the water you suddenly feel that you cannot swim forward, as if you are standing in one place, then you are tired. In this case, you need to try to turn over on your back, lie down, rest, catch your breath, and then turn over on your stomach and try to swim to the shore again,” said Alexander Yashenko.
If a person fell overboard from a ship or boat, but then surfaced, you should not calm down ahead of time. “Often the main sign that a person is drowning is that he does not look like a drowning person at all. It may appear that he is simply trying to stay afloat and is looking at the deck or boat. To make sure that everything is in order, you need to ask a simple question: “Is everything okay?” Do you need help? “If instead of answering you see a blank look, you have half a minute to pull the person out of the water,” says the expert.
Parents need to remember that children playing in the water make noise. If they calm down, you must immediately run into the water and pull them ashore.
What happens when a person drowns?
American lifeguard Francesco Pia described the instinctive reaction of a drowning man. These are actions that people take to avoid suffocation when immersed in water. He was one of the first to point out that drowning occurs very quietly and is not at all spectacular.
— Drowning people, in principle, cannot call for help.
“A person is trying to breathe in air before going under water again. He simply does not have the strength or time to shout or call for help. From the outside, it sometimes looks like a person is just jumping on the water, playing,” explains Yashenko.
— A drowning person cannot wave his arms to attract attention. He instinctively stretches his arms out to the sides, trying to push himself off the water. Such movements allow you to float to the surface to inhale air. The instinct of a drowning person is triggered: to inhale air while he has enough strength.
— Due to instinctive reactions, drowning people cannot control the movement of their hands. They are simply trying to stay on the surface of the water, but cannot stop drowning and begin to perform some meaningful actions: swim, wave their arms to attract attention, try to get closer to rescuers or get to a life preserver when they are thrown one.
How long can a drowning person survive on the water?
Panic, when a person tries to call for help, occurs before drowning. When a person is already drowning and he is guided only by instinct, prompting him to inhale air, he has a maximum of a minute to save him.
“If a drowning person is not rescued, he can float on the surface of the water for 20-60 seconds before completely submerging,” the expert said.
As sad as it sounds, for about 20 thousand Russians the long-awaited summer ends with death on the water, as they write in the protocols, “as a result of drowning.” And as statistics show, those who know how to swim and those who cannot, become victims of open water in equal numbers. To reduce these sad numbers, let's remember the basic rules of providing first aid to victims on the water.
But first, let's talk about why a person drowns. Often, even people who can float well on the water drown because they get lost in an unexpected situation (convulsions, being thrown onto a rock by the surf, a whirlpool, a strong current, hypothermia, fright from large fish or jellyfish), forgetting that their bodies are lighter than water, which means that with minimal effort they can for a long time stay on the surface of the water.
Remember: in order to stay on the water before the rescuers arrive, you don’t have to frantically row to the shore, choking on the waves created by your own efforts. It is enough just to lightly (preferably while lying on your back) rake up the water with your hands and feet.
Particular vigilance should be exercised when swimming in open waters by older people (they can, overestimating their physical capabilities, swim far from the shore and become exhausted) and people with heart disease (heart spasms can occur in response to any unforeseen situation).
Conventionally, there are 2 types of drowning: wet and dry. In case of wet drowning, a person, making convulsive movements, draws in water, which prevents the flow of air. With dry drowning, the vocal cords spasm and they close. In this case, water does not enter the lungs, but air does not pass into them either. In this case, the victim loses consciousness in a matter of minutes and immediately sinks to the bottom.
In the case when the drowning person is conscious, your task is to prevent him from falling under water again. A good help in this situation would be Lifebuoy, an air mattress, any floating log or board. If none of the above is at hand, the rescuer must support the drowning person himself.
To prevent the drowning person from frantically grabbing the rescuer and dragging him along with him, you need to swim up to him from behind and grab him by the hair or grab him under the armpits, turn him on his back and transport him to the shore, keeping his head on the surface. Having reached the shore, you must immediately check the victim for a pulse and breathing.
If the victim is conscious when removed from the water, and his pulse and breathing are preserved, it is enough to lay him on a flat, dry surface (his head should be down). Then it needs to be rubbed with a dry towel, preferably given hot coffee or tea (an adult can be given a little alcohol), wrapped warmly and allowed to rest. In case of severe hypothermia, it is recommended to rub the victim’s body (especially limbs) with camphor alcohol, vinegar, vodka or ammonia.
If the victim is unconscious when removed from the water, and the pulse and breathing, although preserved, are far from normal, it is necessary to throw back his head, push his lower jaw forward and lay him down so that his head is lowered low. Then, with your fingers wrapped in a handkerchief, you need to clean oral cavity from foreign bodies present there (silt, algae, sand), wipe the victim with a towel, wrap him warmly and let him lie down, constantly monitoring his pulse and breathing.
IF there is no pulse and breathing when removing the victim from the water or they suddenly disappear, you must immediately begin providing first aid. Get down on one knee and place the victim face down on the other bent knee. Make sure that the victim's head is lower than his chest.
By pressing forcefully on the area of the lungs and stomach, make sure that the water that the drowning person ingested flows out of the trachea and bronchi ( small child you can just take them by the legs, turn them upside down and shake them). Then use any cloth (handkerchief, piece of cloth or piece of clothing) to remove sand, mud, algae and remaining water from the mouth and throat.
After clearing the airway, place the victim on his back on a hard, flat surface and check that he is breathing. If there is no breathing, call an ambulance and immediately begin artificial ventilation (artificial respiration). Loosen any clothes that are tight around your chest. If the victim has dentures, remove them from the mouth.
Artificial respiration is usually performed in one of the known ways: mouth to mouth or mouth to nose. The essence of this procedure is the artificial introduction of air into the victim’s lungs. For example, when using the mouth-to-mouth method, a rescuer can introduce up to 1.5 liters of air into the victim’s lungs during one breath. Blowing air through the victim's mouth or nose into his lungs must be done sharply and energetically. You need to take at least 16–20 breaths per minute.
People drown mainly due to fear.
Try to drown a cat that hates water and therefore has never swam in its life - it will still swim up!
Because she will make natural movements and move her paws as if she were walking on dry land.
A person who cannot swim should do the same thing - try to walk on water “like on dry land” , not paying attention to the fact that he is almost completely immersed in water.
A person has enough buoyancy to be in an upright position with his head up, keep his nose and mouth above the water and, therefore, breathe.
Breathe through your mouth, not your nose! Because
A quick breath can only be taken through the mouth, not the nose,
Water that gets into the nose disrupts the entire breathing process, and if water gets into the mouth, it can be spat out, or, in extreme cases, swallowed.
It is very inconvenient to move vertically in water - it turns out slowly. ButYou can stay on the surface of the water as long as you like!
And there's no need to rock “float” is a direct path to drowning!
“Float” is a special process that develops according to the following scenario:
1. A person feels like he is drowning. Or maybe it just seems so to him.
2. He gets scared and tries to stick out of the water as high as possible.
3. The Archimedean force supporting his body decreases. Therefore, he dives deeper into the water.
4. Then the Archimedean force increases and pushes his body upward. Point 3 is repeated again. Etc.
5. A process of rocking up and down occurs, which develops rapidly. And the person gets even more scared from all these swings.
6. A person does not have time to inhale air, especially since when his face is above the water, water flows down his face in streams. Therefore, he is unable to breathe normally, scream or call for help.
7. A man chokes and goes to the bottom.
From the outside it really looks like a float. Everything happens silently and very quickly, in two dozen seconds. That's why
Parents! Don't let go
eye
from a bathing child, especially if he doesn’t know how to swim at all!
How to increase buoyancy with a vertical body position?
It is necessary, firstly, for the lungs to remain half filled with air even when exhaling, and secondly, to move your hands as if they were flippers.
Waves on the water add a lot of difficulties, because inhalation can be done if and only if the mouth is above the water.
Therefore, it is useful to conduct special training in shallow water or in the bathroom.
“Start inhaling through your mouth, above the water and begin to sink. The moment water starts to enter your mouth, close your mouth and stop inhaling. Reinforce this skill. Next, practice - exhale into the water, hold your breath. It should finally be ingrained in your brain: mouth in water - don’t inhale! Train yourself to keep your mouth closed under water. (The practice of “keeping your mouth closed in an inappropriate situation” is useful in other situations)"
One of my acquaintances, a great connoisseur of automototechnics, said: “I’ll ride away on a broom, as long as it starts!”
The same can be said about water: “I will never drown, as long as I can breathe.”
The worst thing that can happen to a person on the water is loss of consciousness due to which control of breathing will be lost. And as for such little things as “my leg cramped,” it’s nothing, it’s terribly painful, unpleasant, but that’s all, this has happened to me many times...
I know what I'm writing about! As a child, I drowned, experienced a “float” and miraculously escaped with the last of my strength. Then, when I learned to swim, I tried different swimming and diving modes.
Therefore, what is written here has been verified personal experience(unless you had to drown the cat).