Drowning can affect all age groups but is the leading cause of accidental death among children.
- 1,300 drownings were recorded by Public Health France during the summer of 2023, including 30% deaths.
- When you witness a drowning, you must react quickly to try to save the victim. The first thing to do is to call for help.
- Once the person is out of the water, it is necessary to check whether they are conscious or not, and whether they are breathing or not. If not, cardiopulmonary resuscitation must be started quickly.
During the past summer, Public Health France has recorded more than 1,300 drownings. Nearly 30% of them resulted in death. The first thing to know if you witness a drowning is that you must act quickly to give the person every chance of survival.
If a person is drowning, emergency services should be called as a priority.
First, you should call for help, whether the drowning occurs in the sea, ocean, lake or swimming pool. If you are in a private area and there is no lifeguard, the French Red Cross advises: “If you have not been trained to remove someone from the water, do not take any risks, if possible, throw them a floating object and ask for help.”
When the victim is out of the water, it is necessary to check whether he reacts by asking him questions and thus to establish his state of consciousness.If the victim is conscious and breathing, ask them to calm down. Lay them down comfortably, cover them and call for help. The victim will need to be examined anyway (particularly to check for pulmonary complications)”, the organization specifies.
What to do if the victim is not conscious?
If the victim is not conscious, check whether they are breathing by first clearing their airways.To do this, first place one of your hands on the victim’s forehead and gently tilt their head back. Then, using your other hand, clear their airways: place the tips of your fingers under their chin and open their mouth (to lift their tongue off the back of their throat, and thus clear their airways).“You should then lean over the victim to listen for breathing sounds and check that the chest rises regularly for at least 10 seconds. If this is ok, put the victim in the recovery position and call for help.
If the victim is unconscious and not breathing, you must call for help immediately (or the person accompanying you) and then perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.If an automated external defibrillator is available, use it first.”
To perform CPR, place the victim on the floor or a hard surface and perform several series of chest compressions (placing the heel of one hand in the middle of the victim’s chest, then the heel of the other on top to hold the two hands together) and breaths.Start with 5 mouth-to-mouth breaths and then each set should include 30 chest compressions. [à un rythme de 2 compressions par seconde, ndlr]followed by 2 breaths.“This operation should continue until the victim is breathing again or until help arrives.
The Red Cross says that if you have not been trained in first aid or do not feel able to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, you can only perform chest compressions while waiting for help.
