KUCHING: 105 took part in a water activity safety programme held at Sematan Palm Beach Resort recently.
Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) state director Khirudin Drahman, who was present at the programme’s closing ceremony, said that the programme was one of the department’s efforts in increasing awareness and preventive steps to reduce deaths caused by drowning.
“Based on the department’s statistics, deaths due to drowning are higher recently compared to fire-related deaths.
“From January until September this year, we have received a total of 196 drowning cases. If compared with fire victim cases, there are only 93 of them in the same period.
“A lot of the incidents happened in rivers, drains, beaches, lakes, waterfalls and sewers,” he said.
Khirudin assured that Sarawak Bomba was fully committed in providing awareness and water activity safety education to the people.
He noted that most of the deaths in such incidents involved foreigners who were not familiar with their surroundings.
“Even though there are warning signboards and signals placed for their safety, there are always visitors who are carefree and do not bother,” he noted.
Khirudin reminded that everyone should be careful and gather information on areas to determine the risks before carrying out any water activities.
Tanjung Datu assemblywoman Datuk Amar Jamilah Anu along with Lundu District officer Gustian Durani were present at the closing ceremony.
