This week marks the first anniversary of the most reported drowning accident in Thailand's modern history. A year (and a day) ago on the night of Feb 24, actress Nida "Tangmo" Patcharaveerapong died after falling off a speedboat in the Chao Phraya River.
According to police evidence, the late actress and five other people on the boat were intoxicated from drinking too much wine and champagne. The speedboat driver did not have a driving permit, nor any previous training. No one on the boat was wearing a safety jacket, according to viral images taken from the mobile phones of those on board.
Despite this, speculation and sensational reports about a crime being committed eclipsed the lack of safety that was so evident. Society and the media paid less attention to the fact that someone had drowned -- more to the idea that a crime had been committed. Serious boat accidents often get less media attention -- and the lukewarm attention given to this kind of preventable accident does not do justice to the magnitude of the problem.
It is shocking that drowning is the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 11 years, while traffic accidents are the number one cause that claims the lives of those aged 15 and over. Every day, 10 people die from drowning on average -- or around 3,592 people a year, 737 of whom are children below the age of 15.
According to the Ministry of Health, the rate of fatal drowning accidents in Thailand is at least five times higher than in developed countries. According to the World Health Organization's estimation in 2021, Asean had the second-highest drowning rate in the world.
The worrying figures are no surprise due to Thailand's lack of laws, policies and infrastructure to improve swimming proficiency and rescue operations.
Unliked developed nations, Thailand has not had laws that require schools to provide swimming lessons, nor are there any legal requirements here for certified rescue guards to man swimming pools.
There are fewer safety laws for boats than traffic laws. For example, despite the fact that Thai law also prohibits people operating watercraft under the influence of alcohol or psychoactive drugs, the regulation does not provide a minimum allowable level of alcohol in the blood. Therefore, Marine Department officials do not have any legal measures to go by when testing alcohol levels in boat drivers.
Early this month, the Ministry of Public Health announced a plan to cut the child death rate. A national committee -- with Deputy PM Gen Prawit Wongsuwon as its chairman -- was formed to push forward action plans to improve child safety and reduce accidents.
Among the measures to be taken is the Department of Physical Education's Thai Children Can Swim project, in which an initial group of 9,311 children under 15 nationwide will be trained to swim.
The government plans to draft a national masterplan for cutting down drowning accidents and improving rescue operations.
In terms of policies, the government plans to mandate laws such as one that requires schools to provide swimming classes.
These measures are welcome, if overdue. The question is how fast the government can move to catch up with the rate of accidents. Foot-dragging is not an option. The dreadful statistics speak for themselves. Every single day almost 10 people, mostly young kids, die in a drowning accident.
