To ask you to warn/threaten/do whatever it takes to keep your kids out of Lakes in this hot weather

[AlexanderHamilton]

As emergency seadvices have been at a local lake/nature reserve searching for a teenager since 5pm tonight. There were three kids in distress in the water. Two got out. The parents of the third are at the lake as the search continues as darkness falls.

An plate posted 5 mins ago

WESTPORT LAKE SEARCH UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to fading daylight, the search operation for the missing child at Westport Lake in Stoke-on-Trent will now draw to a close and will recommence first thing tomorrow morning. Officers will remain at the scene overnight.

You can't even try to contemplate what they must be going through can you. I think I'd just be running a mock screaming, They'd have to sedate me. No 2 ways about it.

A student died near here last week here - he was on a school trip to a lake, playing in the correct cordoned off area, watched by a lifeguard.

We go to that lake a lot - that won't change. I made sure my children learnt to swim properly, in the hopes that it will make a difference.

The thing is though...tragic as this is, far more children die in cars every day. So many that we don't even hear about them.

Everyone swims in lakes here. Everyone. And we take sensible precautions. We can't eliminate risk otherwise we wouldn't do anything.

We had a river death here two years ago.

One of my friends when I was 11 didn't turn up for the first day of high school. We heard later that he'd been playing with some mates on the large pond on the common ground and had gone out on a raft, fallen in and drowned.

Such a shock. But the pond is deeper than people think, even though it's not that large.

One of the risks (among many others) is that teenagers particularly, may be tempted to jump into cold water, which can cause sudden cardiac arrest. Cold water can also cause a gasp reflex, leading to drowning. It was sadly all too common near where my cousins live - deep, cold water filled quarries. I remember one awful story of a bereaved family going to lay flowers after the inquest, but couldn't get there as divers were searching for another child's body.

My DC's junior school awards a cup to 'most improved swimmer' each year. It was donated by the family of a former pupil who drowned in a river. Every year, we read the same story of how he got into difficulties in a relatively slow & safe river, that's very close to the school. Makes me shudder every time, & I repeat the story to them every year. It's terrible, but if it's saved any other child from drowning, I applaud that family. I think it's been going for nearly thirty years now.

Sometimes though, Sem. Even the strongest swimmer in the world is no match for the unpredictableness of water especially in lakes and the sea where you can't see what's in there. At least in swimming pools you can see.

It's so sad, and so avoidable.
Meanwhile in my local area there is a lot of moaning on the local FB page about new signs being put up around the reservoir warning people not to swim, people (adults) calling them uptight killjoys etc. Idiots.

Oh this is so sad. I wish I hadn't read it just before bed. But those poor parents.

Poor kid. My heart goes out to the family. Having recently lost a child in the family, when people say 'I can't imagine', it's right. It's way beyond your worst nightmares.

People never cease to amaze, do they, Impossible

Sorry MyOther. It’s been playing on my mind all evening. But I thought a reminder was timely.

Snowy.

This is aimed at 7 - 14 year olds and run by Swim England and RNLI about open swimming. I think the idea is to instil the precautions and dangers at an early age.

swimsafe.org.uk/about

Happens regularly near where I grew up too. There's a series of boating lakes in the park, and a few miles away a flooded quarry. Both the site of many deaths. The quarry actually has a history of being used as a suicide spot, because it's so dangerous, and still people swim there.

I live in an area with several reservoirs and similar water areas. My neighbours daughter drowned in one.
As posters above have said it's often the shock of the cold water that kills, so being a strong swimmer is neither here nor there.
I was walking nearby one at the weekend and saw families with little kids treating the area like a beach, with dinghies and inflatables. So irresponsible.
I rang the Rangers to report.

YANBU, this is very local to me. It is very close to my daughter's school

My dd is always there with her mates.

Praying for a miracle.

A miracle indeed. Sadly I fear there will be a nearby school needing support tomorrow. I think it might be H school though.

Dh used to go to B school kyrenia not that it’s recognisable these days from the old building.

Unfortunately the message hasn’t hit through. My teenage thought it was fine to swim in the local river, as lots of families were doing the same thing.

I made him listen to me read out why it’s so dangerous, basically fresh water, not just sudden deep water, can osmosis into the lungs more easily than the sea water can. I’m still worried as no one else seems to think it’s dangerous. Not my sons friends or their families. I’ve banned him but still they need to all be aware.

My heart goes out to those parents too.

Yes new building much better Alexander.

Poor kids. The water looks so bloody inviting in this heat. Dd washed her shoe in it just the other day and she was shocked how cold the water was.

She has been going to Wezzer as she calls it with her mates since y7 and I have always drummed it in to her never step a foot in that water.

We have a local reservoir where local teenagers often swim in hot weather, there have been drownings over the years and warnings are still not heeded.

I hope the child will be found and safe.

Water safety is just not taught enough. Not just learning to swim, but about cold water shock and what to do in an emergency, and not swimming in places where there's no one around to help if things do go wrong, and the emergency services can't get there in time.

I grew up around lakes and on a peninsula, and I never knew it was dangerous to swim in lakes . I remember a tragic death of teenagers who went for a swim in the sea at night, but didn't realise lakes were as dangerous. What a sad story.