Ontario coroner urges people to be careful around water
Posted Jul 16, 2012 02:54:41 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province’s chief coroner has issued a statement urging people to be careful around water.
The warning from Dr. Andrew McCallum comes after more than a dozen drowning deaths this month.
McCallum says drownings can be prevented when people act responsibly around water.
While drowning deaths of children under five have dropped significantly in recent years — from 13 in 2010 to just three in 2011 — alcohol remains a prevalent risk factor in many drownings.
Just this past weekend a 12-year old boy North York boy was swimming with friends at Sherkston Shores on Lake Erie Saturday when he ran into trouble, went under, and didn’t resurface. On Friday, seven-year old David Harder and 10-year old sister Lisa of Norfolk County drowned at a beach in Port Burwell. Police said the siblings didn’t know how to swim and weren’t wearing life jackets.
