Dubai: Residents ignoring warnings and choosing to swim in the sea during bad weather is the most common reason for drowning incidents in Dubai, police said.
Swimming in areas marked out of bounds by authorities because of inherent dangers also contributes to fatalities.
Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Atiq Burqibah, Deputy Director of the Search and Rescue Department at the General Directorate of Transport and Rescue at Dubai Police, said people should not take red flags and other warnings of bad weather lightly.
“Ninety to 95 per cent of drowning cases happen during bad weather conditions.” Lt Col Burqibah said.
Bad weather conditions create strong water currents known as riptides, which can cause one to drown.
The department covers all beaches and water bodies in Dubai that are not part of a park or a hotel, as these are governed by different bodies, but they provide assistance to them when needed.
Dubai Police employ 128 lifeguards in their patrols.
Lt Col Burqibah said. said the department provides 24/7 patrols on all Dubai beaches, whether they are swim or no swim zones. They also have seven station points across Dubai.
The maximum response time for the department this year is six minutes, which is two minutes down from last year, he said. “However, most of the time the team gets there between one to two minutes of receiving a call.”
“Most drowning incidents take place at Burj Al Arab beach area because a large number of people go there,” he said.
“What many people don’t know, or forget, is that the sea in Dubai does not keep getting deeper gradually. Sometimes it gets deep suddenly as the seafloor isn’t equal, and people lose their footing,” Lt Col Burqibah said, adding that this can cause people who can’t swim to drown or those who can swim sometimes to panic and drown.
He said that people should not panic, as this makes the situation worse for them.
“Never fight a strong water current, let it pull you and once it becomes weak, swim further to the side to get away from where the current was and then you can swim back to the shore.”
Whirlpools are not a common occurrence in UAE waters, Lt. Col Burqaibah said, adding that they can form in areas were a there is a solid object such as rocks or poles. “They can form near wave-breakers and so swimming there should be avoided.”
If one is caught in a whirlpool, one should take a deep breath, relax and let the whirlpool pull him down where it gets weaker. Once it is weak enough, one can swim out of it and back to the surface.
