The Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) has launched yet another campaign pleading people to be sensible near water, "Price of Recklessness". The head of the SPKC's Health Promotion Division, Berta Pulmane, reiterated that jumping head-first or drinking alcohol while having fun near water is very dangerous.
But statistics so far show that people are hardly changing their habits.
“If we are talking about injuries, [..] last year there were 80 cases of injury recorded near the water, with 40% of cases of fractures. And about a quarter of these fractures are spinal fractures, which occur most often after jumping on the head in the water," Pulmane said.
According to the SPKC's representative, it is too early to analyze the data for this year, but it is possible to make an estimated guess which, unfortunately, shows that people's habits have not changed significantly.
Last year, 100 deaths occurred in water bodies, a year earlier - 122, according to statistics from the State Fire and Rescue Service.
As repeatedly reported by LSM over the years, Latvia has a serious problem with a huge number of drownings and other water tragedies every year. Latvia consistently tops European league tables for drownings per capita with dozens of deaths both in summer and in winter when reckless fishermen regularly fall through the ice.
