A trip to the beach turned to tragedy that left at least six students dead and more than two dozen others injured. Six children drowned while on a beach trip in Egypt.
Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) confirmed the tragic drownings. The students went on a school trip to Abu Talat beach in Alexandria, Egypt on August 23. An aviation hospitality academy had organized the school trip. According to Roya News, several of these students drowned while at the beach.
It was such an extreme situation that 16 ambulances responded to calls to the scene. They began treating several students. They treated at least three students at the scene and 21 others at nearby hospitals. They transported 13 people to Agami Specialized Hospital. Another eight ended up at Al-Amreya General Hospital.
All of those injured suffered from drowning-related asphyxia. At this time, we’re not sure what happened at the beach. But following the drownings, officials closed the beach and issued red-flag warnings due to the conditions in the water. According to Identity Magazine, officials banned swimming for now.
Beach Trip Drownings
They wrote, “Six students lost their lives and 24 others were injured in a tragic drowning incident during a school trip to Abu Talat Beach in Alexandria. Emergency services responded immediately to the scene. In response to the tragedy, local authorities have closed the beach and issued red-flag warnings to indicate hazardous sea conditions and prohibit swimming.”
After the deaths, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypt’s health minister, spoke out about what happened. He said that he would offer the full support to all the families who suffered losses due to the beach trip.
According to WHO, young people are at a greater risk for drowning. The organization wrote, “Young children are at a particularly high risk of drowning due to an underdeveloped ability to assess risk, and a lack of swimming and water safety skills. The risk of drowning increases when children interact with water outside of active adult supervision.”
It continued, “Children and young adults aged 0-29 years account for over half (57%) of all drowning deaths. The highest drowning rates per population are among children aged 0-4 years. At the regional level, drowning rates among children 0-4 years are highest in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region at 16.8 deaths per 100 :000 population. In the WHO Western Pacific Region children aged 5-14 years die more frequently from drowning than any other cause.”
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