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Drownings among holidaymakers abroad on the increase
New research from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has revealed
a sharp rise in the number of Britons drowning abroad.
Some 73 people drowned on holiday in 2003, an increase of 13 over the previous
year. Seventeen were under the age of eighteen and, of those, nine were under
10. In 2002, 12 fatalities were under 18, six of them under 10.
Last year, most of the deaths occurred in Mediterranean resorts – eight in both
Spain and France and 11 in Greece and Cyprus combined.
Peter Cornall, head of water and leisure safety at RoSPA, said many deaths could
be prevented if people took more care to check facilities at pools and beaches.
He also said tour operators needed to offer better safety standards.
“People should put pressure on tour operators and find out if the hotel pools
have proper depth markings and a lifeguard,” said Mr Cornall. “If not, they
should consider going elsewhere.
“In our experience, standards are often high when one of the major travel
companies has control over a hotel – but this is not always the case when the
property is shared by several operators.”
Mr Cornall said villas with pools, which have become increasingly popular in recent
years following extensive building in Greece and Turkey, were not always
suitable for families.
“People see a villa with a pool as a great luxury, but they need to think twice
about whether it is right for them,” he said. “Parents can become trapped as
24-hour-a-day lifeguards.”
Thomson said none of its clients drowned abroad last year and insisted it
offered consistent safety standards at all the properties featured in its
programmes.
“We insist on strict standards of safety, such as depth markers and ‘no diving’
signs, regardless of whether we own the property or not,” said a spokesman.
“Nine out of ten properties do not have lifeguards. Holidaymakers can ask their
travel agent or tour company about this before they go and, if they wish, try to
switch to a property which has a lifeguard.”
Report by Jeremy Skidmore
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