Summer is a season with a high incidence of drowning accidents. Statistics show that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death and a leading cause of accidental death among teenagers. With the recent rise in temperatures and the upcoming summer vacation, more and more people are going to play in the wild and go boating, so be extra vigilant about falling into the water accidents. How to save yourself once you fall into the water? Can people who can swim have the ability to save people?

When a person falls into the water, their instinctive reaction is to stand upright, struggle, and flop up and down. This posture consumes a lot of energy and risks continuing to sink. During the test, firefighters raised their hands high after simulating falling into the water, and found that their bodies sank faster.

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade of Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province: When professional rescuers continue to tread water with the same force, they slowly raise their hands from the water one by one. We will find that the human body will slowly sink when the hands are raised. The hand was completely raised out of the water, and the water basically reached the rescuer's chin, which was very disadvantageous for self-rescue.

Firefighters said that the golden time for drowning rescue is often only 5 minutes. If self-rescue or other rescue is not carried out in such a short period of time, the drowning person's chance of survival will be reduced. Therefore, it is particularly important to prevent drowning and master scientific self-rescue and other-rescue skills. A person who falls into the water should stay in the water as long as possible until rescue forces arrive.

So, once you fall into the water, how can you save yourself with the least effort? In the test, firefighters asked eight testers of different genders and ages to assume two postures: "upright" and "floating upward" in a bucket with a diameter of 1.6 meters and a height of 1 meter. The numerical values ​​are calculated and measured to obtain the buoyancy required by the person in the two states. Firefighters found that the buoyancy force required to stay upright is at least 50N, while the support force required to float on one's back is about 15N. This shows that compared with standing upright, using the "floating upward" posture to survive requires less force and buys time for rescue.

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade of Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province: The more part of the human body in the water, the greater the buoyancy of the water. Therefore, when breathing can be ensured, the more standard the floating posture, the better. A person who falls into the water can also use the force provided by treading water to stay upright and survive. However, as time goes by, the buoyancy provided by treading water will also decrease after the physical strength declines, and the person will soon sink. Therefore, the upward drift with the smallest thrust required is the most suitable posture for self-rescue.

Two self-rescue methods to master when accidentally falling into water

It is understood that once you accidentally fall into the water, there are two ways to rescue yourself, one is the knee-hugging style, and the other is the back-floating style. What are the key points to master in both self-rescue methods?

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade, Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province: First of all, I will demonstrate to you the knee-hugging pose. When a person falls into the water, he first remains calm, hugs the knees with both hands, and lowers his head into a curled-up position. The human body will slowly rise. When you feel that your back leaves the water, , quickly push down the water, raise your head to breathe, and then sink back to the clasping state, repeating the cycle to ensure your normal breathing. This method can extend the self-rescue time.

Another self-rescue method is the float method. Firefighters said that the advantage of this method is that it requires less force and saves physical strength. The key point of floating upward is to let the face, mouth and nose of the body surface above the water, while the rest of the body remains under the water to maintain buoyancy. First, put your hands in the water, lean back, keep your mouth and nose above the water, and breathe slowly. When sinking, close your mouth, breathe out through your nose, push the water slightly, and wait for the surface to rise.

The trick to floating is to relax your body in the water. After taking a full breath, slowly tilt your head back to prevent the body's center of gravity from being concentrated on the lower part of the body. At the same time, adjust the rhythm of breathing. Only when the air is stored in the chest when inhaling, and the chest is filled with air, can the body float upward.

Scientific self-rescue after accidentally falling into water. Do not swim in unattended waters.

Data shows that most drownings occur in unattended reservoirs, ditches, ponds and other waters. Even in some dangerous waters, drowning accidents occurred one after another during the summer. Firefighters said that some waters may appear to be clear and shallow on the surface, with slow currents, but in fact the conditions at the bottom are complicated and dangers are often discovered only after reaching the water, so do not swim in places where there are no rescuers or safety facilities.

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade of Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province: The open water environment is very complex, with fast water speed, many undercurrents, different depths of the river bed, and many aquatic plants and stones. During the test, we tested the body surface temperature before and after the person entered the water. We found that the body surface temperature before entering the water was 35 degrees. In just half a minute, it was only 30 degrees when they came out. It can be seen that if you stay in the water for a short time, the heat on the surface of the human body will be lost quickly, and the temperature will drop quickly. People are prone to cramps and even fatigue in the water. Be sure not to swim where there are no rescuers or safety facilities.

Scientifically rescue minors in case of drowning. Do not blindly enter the water to save others.

In addition to scientific self-rescue, when someone is drowning, you must also master scientific methods and do what you can when you go into the water to rescue. Especially minors should not blindly go into the water to rescue.

Firefighters said that even for people who can swim, the buoyancy generated by treading water varies from person to person. If this force cannot ensure that the rescuer and the drowning person keep their heads above the water at the same time, it may be dangerous.

During the test, several testers who could swim entered the river and stepped on the water with their feet. The more parts of their bodies exposed to the water, the greater the buoyancy generated. It can be seen that when the first two people "tread water", most of their bodies are exposed to the water. Through measurement, it was found that the thrust generated by one of them was 124N, which was much greater than the 56N needed to stand upright. The excess value was 68N. In other words, he could rescue an adult of his own size.

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade of Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang: The other two could only keep their heads above the water after treading water. After measurement, we found that the thrust one of them could generate by treading water was 72N, and it took 40N to keep himself upright in the water. That is to say, she can only provide 32N of excess force, and the buoyancy required for an average adult to stand upright in the water is at least 50N, indicating that the buoyancy generated by her treading water is probably not enough to save people.

When rescuing a person who has fallen into the water, you can look for some long enough strong poles on the shore, such as bamboo poles, poles, fishing rods, etc. to extend to the trapped person. When the person who falls into the water is far away from the shore, you can use a rope to tie a lifebuoy and other life-saving equipment, throw it in front of the trapped person, and wait for him to catch him and bring him back to the shore. When other methods fail, get into the water and approach the person who fell into the water from behind or from the side, lift his body so that his head is out of the water and swim sideways to the shore. Minors are not capable of rescuing people, so they should not blindly go into the water to rescue.

Zhu Yifan, Special Service Brigade of Ningbo Fire Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province: Parents should strengthen the cultivation of their children's self-protection and self-rescue abilities and do not let their children play near the water. Because minors do not have the ability to directly save people, when children find that their companions have fallen into the water, they should shout loudly as soon as possible, ask for help from adults, and call 119 to call the police. They must not blindly enter the water, nor hold hands in the water to rescue.

How should a child save himself if he falls into the water with his schoolbag?

Summer vacation is coming soon, and this time of year is a high incidence of drowning accidents among children. Many of the children left school and ran to the river to play in the water with their schoolbags on their backs. If they encountered danger, the consequences would be disastrous. In this case, how should the child help himself? Let’s learn from the pros.

In the deep water area, the swimming instructor is giving lessons to a 7-year-old child, practicing self-rescue methods after accidentally falling into the water.

Swimming coach: Take a big breath, pick up your school bag, put your head in your hands, turn around, and relax.

The coach lifted the child and threw it into the water behind him, and then gave him the command to take off the flotation board that simulated a schoolbag. After a few movements, the child surfaced head-first, keeping breathing through the mouth and nose and floating on the water. superior. The coach said that after drowning, you should relax your body and maintain this movement, and just wait quietly for rescuers to come to rescue you.

What should you do if you experience "cramps" in the water?

It is known that drowning accidents are most likely to occur in unattended reservoirs, rivers, ponds and other water bodies. Then some people say that if we don’t go to these places, will it not be dangerous to go to the swimming pool? of course not. Many people have experienced cramps when playing in the swimming pool or swimming. What should we do at this time?

When swimming, everyone should follow the arrangements of the venue staff and choose the water depth of the swimming pool according to their own circumstances, or whether they need to wear swimming rings, floating sleeves and other auxiliary equipment. Before entering the water, do a thorough warm-up exercise. After entering the water, if you feel uncomfortable or unable to move normally, you must call for help from lifeguards in time, or you can also take some self-rescue methods first.

Swimming coach Shen Ye: Abdominal cramps are more common and more difficult to save yourself. It is recommended that you crouch down and see if there is anyone around. If there is someone, ask the people around you to help call the lifeguard, or there is a water line, and you can pull the water line to wave or call.

Swimming coach Feng Jie: For example, if we have hand cramps, we can contract and open our hands and do this several times. In the case of feet, the calf is usually prone to cramps. If the calf is cramped, we straighten the knee joint, hook the toes back, and maintain this state for about ten seconds before doing it again. Straighten and then hook back, for about ten seconds, repeat it a few times.

What is "Silent Drowning"? How to accurately identify a drowning person?

It seems that before going into the water to rescue people in distress, you must accurately judge your own abilities, otherwise it may cause more serious consequences. Next there is a very important question. How do we accurately identify a drowning person? Many people believe that all drowning people wave their hands and shout for help. Is this really true?

Professionals point out that many times, drowning people often want to shout but cannot make a sound, showing a phenomenon of silent drowning, especially for children. Some drowning victims will float in the water in a semi-upright position, face down, without moving their limbs, and float quietly in the water. According to professionals, drowning can be distinguished by a swimmer's body movements and facial expressions.

Yan Zixin, a professional lifeguard at the swimming pool: The symptoms of fatigued drowning people are intermittent breathing, and may have waving movements, and a body posture that is close to a horizontal position; the performance of drowning people who cannot swim is struggling to breathe, with their arms stretched horizontally. The person patting down on the water, extending his legs to kick or fetch the water ineffectively, the body posture is relatively vertical, and the facial expression is more panic; the manifestation of a comatose drowning person is that there is no breathing and movement, lying horizontally on the surface of the water, in the water, or at the bottom of the pool, with the face His expression is dull and he has no ability to move.

How to save a drowning person ashore in the golden 30 seconds?

Firefighters tell us that whether in indoor or outdoor waters, the prime time to rescue a drowning victim is within 30 seconds after the danger occurs. How can we save others and ensure our own safety in such a short period of time?

When you find a drowning person, if you cannot swim, do not rush to rescue. You should first try to find suitable rescue props to rescue the drowning person.

Yang Shuyuan of the Yueyang City Fire Rescue Detachment in Hunan Province: You should first shout loudly to a place where there are people, and at the same time find available floating objects around as soon as possible and throw them to the person who fell into the water. The rescuer can take off his trousers, soak them in the water, tighten the trousers to inflate them, then tighten the trousers waist, and throw them to the person who fell into the water. He also told the person who fell into the water not to try to climb up it, or to struggle ashore by himself. He could only hold on to it with his hands to bring his head up to the surface to breathe, and wait patiently for the arrival of rescuers.

When other methods fail, get into the water and approach the person who fell into the water from behind or from the side, lift his body so that his head is out of the water and swim sideways to the shore.

Fire rescue personnel told reporters that the drowning person may be unconscious, breathless, and pulseless after being rescued ashore due to choking on a large amount of water for a long time. At this time, first aid is required for the drowning person until the arrival of medical staff.

Yang Shuyuan of the Hunan Yueyang City Fire Rescue Detachment: For drowning victims who still have a heartbeat and breathing, but have obvious respiratory obstruction, water control treatment should be carried out first. The method is for the rescuer to kneel on one leg, bend one knee, and bring the drowning victim's abdomen to the kneeled thigh. Go up, let its head droop, and then pat its back to drain the water from the oropharynx and trachea. The drainage treatment should be carried out quickly. If it is judged that the drowning person has stopped breathing, mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration should be performed immediately while ensuring that the respiratory tract is open.