Today my friend and family nearly drowned - Danger in the third world

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This evening my friend Louis Haar a fellow English man that lives not to far from my residence in Dumaguete City Negros Oriental  sent me an email with a true and thankfully not a tragic story to publish on Citizen Journalist and social communities web sites. As a warning to tourist planning holiday vacations in third world countries, or, here in Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines where Louis and family sea faring journey could have had a very tragic end. .

It concerns safety in small boats and sea going craft, of which mostly are not well maintained and not much attention is taken on how many passengers and weight they can safely carry. There is a lack of life jackets or simply non what so ever. Every year there are tragic   

His story….

I am a British man living here in Sibulan with my Cebuana partner and our three boys, one of whom is a one year old baby.  I have been living in the Philippines for many years now and have, unfortunately, adopted some of the native casual approaches to safety. I very rarely wear my seat belt in the car, nor does my partner, though all our children are belted in and baby has a car seat into which he is secured safely. This lapse in our safety nearly cost us dearly today. Read on and take note.

We have just celebrated his first birthday and have some relatives with us for that event.

Ten of us went to a beach resort today and were enjoying the day very much with swimming and good food. Even baby had a dip in the sea very carefully held by myself, or another adult. The two small boys were at the water’s edge also closely monitored. Unusually the three year old had, for the first time ever, removed his inflatable life vest and was in the water with his 6 year old brother and ten year old uncle.

Of the ten, only three of us can swim including me. My partner cannot.

At some point I arranged to rent a bang-ka, a small narrow boat with bamboo outriggers for stability, like in Hawaii  Five o TV series. Six of us went into the boat; me, my partner, the two small boys, and two adults. Only two swimmers out of us all. One boy had armbands. My partner should have, and could have, taken an inflatable ring but nobody thought of it. I should have said something but didn’t. I just thought it was safe enough since we would always be near shore. Anyway bang-kas don’t capsize do they? 

My partner was telling me that she was a little scared and I teased her saying, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you drown.”

A few moments later, as the boatman turned the boat, a small wave hit the side and over we went. All of us went into the water. No time to think. One minute we were upright, the next under water under the boat.  We had capsized in about nine foot of water and about thirty yards from shore.

 I swam up to the surface, couldn’t see my partner and went back down. She was trapped by the boat, half in the boat and half out. I grabbed hold of her shorts and pulled her free. I was struggling for breath myself and remember telling her not to struggle or we would both go under. After getting her to hold onto the bamboo outrigger, she began screaming for the youngest son. I dived under again but couldn’t stay down long and surfaced. That was when I realized many swimmers had come to our aid and the two boys were already out. Luckily we had capsized next to a tethered raft which we all got onto. We took a count and thanked God we were all safe.

My partner said she thought she was going to die and was sad for her children. Then she remembered what I had told her moments before and was comforted.

The boat was righted and bailed of water. I realized that it had been top heavy and we should have sat IN the boat to lower the center of gravity. Instead we had all sat on the seats across the boat. For the return journey I made everyone sit inside while I swam back. The boat was accompanied by many swimmers.

I thank God for watching over us today and also the swimmers who helped with the rescue. I thank God also that baby was not in the boat.

We are none the worse for our experience, but much wiser. Seat belts were worn on the way home!!!!!!!!!!!

Be aware therefore that safety is up to us. Do not rely on anyone else or leave it to chance. The boat owner told me afterwards that she has instructed her boatmen not to load more than four persons. A bit late methinks.