Additional Swimming Safety Tips
Posted August 31, 2006
Please accept my humble respects. I thank you for posting about the dangers of swimming in the Ganges, and especially for posting the tips on river safety. I wanted to add to it a few things I have learned also - mostly just some of that all-too-rare common sense. I would like to see someone go into detail about currents, whirlpools, etc., but I do not have the knowledge to properly talk about them.
The main thing I believe is to always, ALWAYS go swimming with a SMALL group
of people. Swimming alone is extremely dangerous, but also if you go with
too large a group, you might be missed in a head count or brief scan of the
water - this leads very easily to drownings. Always make sure that you go
swimming with two or three other people, and if you go in a large group
break it down into a "buddy-system" grouping so that at least one or two
people will always be watching out for you.