Drownings at Conspicuous Cliffs beach prompt calls for more signage, education

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There are calls to install more warning signs at notoriously dangerous beaches after a Perth couple drowned near Walpole in the state's great southern. Some advocates have also suggested more culturally appropriate education on water safety could help save lives.

Transcript

00:00Beautiful, wild and known by locals for being incredibly dangerous.

00:07Two holidaymakers from Perth drowned at conspicuous Cliff Beach near Walpole on Saturday afternoon

00:13after they were caught in a rip.

00:15The 44-year-old man and 40-year-old woman were husband and wife.

00:19A 42-year-old man who tried to assist remains in hospital in a stable condition.

00:26It's really not a swimmer's beach.

00:29It's more of surfing, fishing or just walking the beach, but definitely not for a swimmer.

00:36For visitors unfamiliar with the beach, there is a small warning on an information board

00:41in the car park.

00:42The signage at Conspicuous Cliff needs to not be written for locals.

00:47I also think that it needs to be multilingual.

00:50I think that actually there should be signage across the swimming beaches that are open

00:55to the southern ocean because it's a very deceptive beast of an ocean.

01:01Whenever anything like this happens, we have a review of whether we're doing everything

01:05that we reasonably can to keep people safe.

01:08The southern coastline is a very powerful and dangerous beast and we urge people to

01:14take care wherever they are along our beaches.

01:17The ABC understands the deaths have devastated many in WA's Bangladeshi community.

01:23It is the reality that people like us who come from that South Asian background are

01:28not necessarily as good swimmers.

01:31I think we need to do a lot more about educating our communities to tell them that this is

01:38not a space they should be going to if there are people who don't swim well.

01:44An important warning at a time of year when people are visiting areas for the first time.

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