Three women's bodies found in the sea at Brighton

[BlackTogetherAgain]

This is absolutely heartbreaking.

Why didn't anyone report three women were missing?

If it's a Channel crossing, from what I understand, it's rare that women go on the boats from France, and when they do they are pushed to the back / bottom, where the risk of being crushed is high.

If it's not a crossing, what on earth has happened?

Words can't express how evil this is.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwyg508gg28t

It would be if it was true

This is why I was reluctant to post, because the answer comes back that it isn't true. Fine. Believe what you want to believe. At the end of the day, if a certain demographic isn't learning to swim then they are being failed.

Oh I think it’s the specific mention of Eid that makes the posters intention very clear.

So are you saying the women who tragically died in Brighton were Muslims because as far as I can see you haven’t honed in on any other demographic.

Does it always have to be about people "being failed"? Lots of councils do free swimming classes. Most white working class kids can swim...

The woman in Brighton were called Jane, Christina and Rebecca and their father is Joseph. If anything i presume they are Christian.

My post was specifically about Asian children not learning to swim, as where I lived Asian children were always Muslim. That being the ethnic minority of that particular city, and due to the areas they lived in most attended the same secondary school as mine. I find it interesting that any suggestion that political correctness is failing a group is automatically thought to be racist in itself. In actual fact it's the political correctness which is failing people , instead of trying to resolve any issues, we ignore them.
There were very few Black children where we lived so I can't comment on why they don't learn to swim,and leave others to explain that. Again, it needs a solution.

What are you talking about?

Firstly, there is no evidence so far that this family was muslim.

Secondly, I grew up in Brighton and so did my children. Both me and my children were taught to swim at school. Our school did not have a pool so the school took us to a nearby one. (My children are not white btw and still participated and loved it).

Brighton council also offers free swimming lessons for anyone under age 18. The instructor is also deaf so its very inclusive.

If people want to learn to swim, the opportunities are there.

It’s more generational though.We were white, working class. We did not have private swimming lessons. But because my parents (and their parents) could swim - due to access to swimming pools and no segregation issues - they taught us themselves.

So this generational problem needs to be solved. It’s similar to more black women dying in childbirth - completely unacceptable. It’s not grim or racist to point this out. Surely the oposite - not something to ignore or sweep under the carpet as we are failing these children.

It is not as simple as saying ‘well the free lessons are there so why don’t they access them’. They are not accessing them and black/Asian and minority group children are 3.5 times as likely to drown because of this. The free lessons aren’t working so what more can we do?

Now we obviously have no idea whether these poor women were good swimmers and whether that would have saved them. Many strong swimmers are swept out to sea.

It is not as simple as saying ‘well the free lessons are there so why don’t they access them’. They are not accessing them and black/Asian and minority group children are 3.5 times as likely to drown because of this. The free lessons aren’t working so what more can we do?

I cant speak for other councils but if they are teaching swimming at school I am not sure what else can be done? what do you suggest?

Now your nasty suspicious racist initial post has been proved totally wrong. Why don’t you take down your thread or at least change the title of it?

Try and find out why this is happening? Work with the organisations that are trying to bring about change?

It was in answer to another comment about how Asian people are more likely to drown. I have explained that.

Its happening because parents cant be bothered to sign their kids up to free swimming classes?

I don’t disagree with trying to understand why uptake is lower or supporting organisations that encourage swimming and water safety. I also agree there should be more education around swimming and water safety generally, especially around the dangers of open water and the sea.

However, swimming is already taught in schools and many councils offer subsidised or free lessons, and organisations such as Swim England, the Black Swimming Association and the Royal Life Saving Society are already working with councils and communities on outreach and water safety initiatives. Many pools also offer culturally sensitive classes such as women only etc

My point is simply that there’s a limit to what councils and schools can realistically do. So beyond improving outreach and awareness, you still ultimately need families and individuals to engage with it.

Personal responsibility has to play a role too

And just to add in respect of the 3 young women here, I would suspect that one fell into water deeper than expected, the sea is still cold which in itself causes additional problems with cold water shock. The 2 others tried to help and also succumbed. The advice is always to call the coastguard. I live 5 minutes from the beach in Yorkshire and there are signs everywhere giving just that information. When my dog went swimming in the sea I told my kids he was by himself if he got into trouble. People try to help but can't withstand the cold, tides or just aren't strong enough.

I think the some of the organisations out there trying to help did meet with the government a few years ago to discuss this. I’m not sure what the outcome was - I’ll need to check. But I don’t feel the situation is improving.

We need to find out why these children are not accessing the free swimming lessons at school. Is that parental influence? It’s so complicated and I don’t profess to know enough. Lack of water safety knowledge also came up within these groups.

This organisation is doing great work: https://thebsa.co.uk/faqs/ They have mentioned the Brighton tragedy on their instagram

Being able to swim may not have made a difference in this case. If the water was cold; if they had had a few drinks, as might be expected on a night out.

Being able to swim a couple of lengths in an indoor pool will not save you if you go into open water with all the associated dangers.

Thanks for this. What good work they are doing.

And where did you live that had an Olympic sized swimming pool only in use twice a year at Eid because the Muslim children were absent on those days.

Yes. I’m aware of that. I just wanted to see how another poster would fit it into their narrative.

I do agree.

However, lack of safety awareness around open water also came up as an issue within these communities.

Again we don’t know if that was the case here. And as we see - lots of white middle class boys throw themselves in to rivers,
lakes and the sea every year. So even if you are aware of the dangers alcohol can override sense.

What is clear is that we need more education about water safety all round.

I do wonder if certain places such as. Brighton should have big boards/ hand out leaflets detailing the danger with regards to the sloping drop off at the beaches. Similar to Camber Sands and I think Morcambe where you can get cut off by the tide. This needs to be common knowledge with tourists visiting.

Exactly. Strong tides and waves. Then they’re wearing clothes which would drag them down. I’m a good swimmer and even I am conscious of whenever I’m in the sea just how dangerous it is and how easy it is to go far out without barely noticing it. For people who’ve barely been in the sea it would take them by surprise.

😒 great sociological insight there 😒