Water Safety New Zealand is urging Kiwis to “stop and think” before entering the water this summer following three water-related incidents over the weekend.
A child died after a water-related event at Motutawa Avalon Park in Lower Hutt on Saturday, while a man who leaped from a boat into the water off Whakatāne also could not be revived.
A search for a man who jumped from a Hamilton bridge into the Waikato River on Saturday night was ongoing, RNZ reports.
The organisation’s chief executive Daniel Gerrard told Breakfast that “once again, we’ve had a weekend filled with tragedy”.
“Sixty-six people have lost their lives this year, that’s 66 families that are going to have a very different Christmas this year. We need to think about the friends, family and loved ones of those impacted.”
He said despite the weekend tragedies, New Zealand was still “tracking toward a low year” for drowning numbers.
“Eighty-three is our 10-year average and we’re well below that now. [However], we still have two weeks of beautiful, hot, summer weather where things can go wrong.
“But we’re pushing really, really hard around personal responsibility this year and there comes a time where you need to stop and have a think about what you’re doing and how that impacts your friends, family and loved ones.”
Gerrard said there were a number of factors contributing to the decline in drowning figures, including education of young New Zealanders who are making “better decisions around the water”.
“One hundred per cent of these drownings are preventable. We do need to just have a stop and think as Kiwis in regard to our behaviour around water.
“We can keep pumping out these messages all the time, and we do, and we are trying to influence people’s decision making and behaviour, but it’s a long-term process.”
Gerrard said data modelling made it clear who was getting into trouble and what activities they were doing.
“We just now need to prepare the next generation with the right skills and knowledge. We need to make sure those communities around the riskiest locations and under-represented groups have the right support.”
His advice to all Kiwis heading out to beaches in the next few weeks, particularly on Auckland’s rugged West Coast, was to ensure it was “a patrolled beach, within patrol hours”.
He also encouraged those heading out on boats to always wear lifejackets, and likened it to “wearing a seatbelt in a car”.
