Surf Life Saving calling for more kids to learn to swim

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Today is World Drowning Prevention Day and campaigns are underway to get as many children as possible to learn to swim. In South Australia, the surf lifesaving body has revealed how common rescues were last season.

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00:00 With the majority of the Australian population living within 100 kilometres of the coast,

00:06 swimming is a necessary skill to learn and to learn it from a young age as well.

00:11 That is because statistics do show that people who are most likely to drown are children

00:16 aged between zero and four years old.

00:19 Surf Lifesaving SA are calling on all parents to get their kids into swimming lessons and

00:25 to water safety classes from as young as possible.

00:28 There were 17 people who drowned in South Australia last season.

00:33 Not all of those drownings were at the beach.

00:35 In fact, 11 of those were inland.

00:38 So it just goes to show that any body of water can be deadly.

00:43 There were also 15,000 rescues that were avoidable.

00:47 So again, more lives being put at risk, including those lifesavers.

00:52 It may feel like a long time from summer, but Surf Lifesaving SA are suggesting that

00:58 winter is a really good time to get kids into swimming lessons and to prepare them for the

01:03 summer ahead.

01:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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