Lifesaving SA urges parents to be vigilant following recent drownings
Lifesaving SA has urged parents to be vigilant and make sure their children are supervised when they are in the water this festive season.
This follows a number of drowning incidents in KwaZulu-Natal.
This week, around three children have died in separate drownings on the North and South Coast.
The organisation's Deon Woodley says the first step is swimming at protected bathing beaches.
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"The most common cause of drowning particularly on beaches - is that people are swimming where there is no lifeguard coverage, they get themselves into difficulties and there's no one around to actually help them," Woodley said.
Woodley says drowning rates usually spike around this time of year.
"Drowning-wise, on average you have about 1400 drownings in the country a year. Last year, 2% of incidents occurred on oceans or beaches. This is slightly unusual because normally the inland dams and rivers have more tragedy," he said.