KARACHI: The summer months have seen a rush of Karachiites to the beaches dotting 40km of the coast from Sea View to Suneri Point. Each year, the number of people flocking to the seaside varies between 50,000-60,000 on weekends during the hot months.

About a quarter of this number visit Neelum and Suneri Points and Cape Montze — the deadliest of all beaches because of the depth of the water and the presence of underwater rocks.

“This is the worst time of the year to visit the beach,” says Mairaj Mohammad Khan, who heads the rescue team at the Emergency and Rescue Centre run by the city government. Reza Samad, president of the Pakistan Aquatic Life Saving, echoes this view, adding, “Not that they are no casualties after the monsoons. But the monsoon season aggravates the risk of drowning.”

The risk is heightened by the presence of rip currents that, Samad says, “have the power to pull a person into the sea.” Oblivious to the lurking threat, beach-goers generally head out towards what they perceive to be a calm patch of water, not realising the danger in the zigzag pathway within the tide that takes back the water — and the bather — that comes to the shore in the form of a wave.

“People usually don’t drown as result of being swept away by this tide. They drown because of the ensuing panic and exhaustion as they try to fight it by swimming against it,” says Samad. “The Arabian Sea is a volatile beach. We don’t have a coral reef that breaks the real flow of the water. Therefore, the current is strong. In a rip, you cannot swim back. No matter how good a swimmer you are, the sea is much stronger and will always take you back. You basically have to swim parallel to the shoreline to get out of the rip, but you need to get out of it first.”

According to Zafar Khan, in charge of the ERC at Hawkesbay, fatalities mount as people have little awareness of the dangers at sea and no knowledge of first-aid techniques. “They don’t know who to approach in case of an emergency. We find people coming in as early as 3am. Lifeguards take their positions on the beach at 9am and are there until sunset. Any casualty that takes place after that cannot be attributed to the negligence of the lifeguard.”

A constant complaint by lifeguards employed by the city government is that people do not listen when they are asked not to go too far into the water. “They show the visiting cards of influential relatives, some threaten dire consequences if not allowed to go ahead. There have even been instances of our boys being beaten up,” laments Mairaj.

Elaborating, Khan asserts that lifeguards are not given the power to deal with people breaking the law. “All we can do is to warn them and later when things get out of hand try to save them from the consequences of their own folly.”

Strangely, the city government has still not imposed a ban on bathing in the sea as it normally does from June 1 to September 15.

Going by international standards, there should be one lifeguard for 20 people. However, the lack of resources makes this difficult. Samad’s organisation divides the coastal area from Sea View to Suneri into 20 beaches. “Ideally we need 20 sponsors (to pay for lifesaving equipment etc), but here we have only three.” There is a dearth of lifeguards, for while Samad claims that Pals has 200 of them, the ERC has only 45.

A person can drown within three minutes. Timely help is only possible through a strong communication system, but a tour of the ERC shows that although it is connected to the fire rescue department, no wireless devices are provided to the lifeguards.Wishing to remain anonymous one of the staff at the centre says, “Our boys cannot contact us directly if they need more equipment or help. If they lose precious time in begging for a mobile phone from someone so that they can phone for help, can we be blamed for the loss of lives?”

Location and the dearth of vehicles also hamper rescue attempts as the centre is almost 10km away from Neelum Point, Cape Montze and Suneri Point. Moreover, there is no doctor available at the ERC, and it is only during the weekends or certain public holidays when there is proper medical help.

An additional problem is that of identifying the ERC lifeguards as many do not possess distinct uniforms. “This is a major hindrance while trying to save lives as people cannot make out who we are from a distance. Sometimes, we are mistaken for picnickers,” says a lifeguard. Khan’s team was provided with uniforms in 2005 but these wore out because of the extreme conditions that they worked in.

Most lifeguards hired by the ERC and Pals belong to the fishing communities living along the coastline. Although they are born swimmers, they need training to hone their skills as lifeguards. Khan says that his boys are trained by the navy, but feels they need refresher courses under the tutelage of foreign trainers.

A glimmer of hope lies in statistics that show instances of drowning to be on the decline. “Statistics from 1993-2003 show that almost 200 people drowned each year. But since we came into the picture from 2004, the drowning rate has come down to 20 per year,” says Samad.