2 English teachers rescued a drowning teen in Qiku Tainan

Two English teachers rescued a drowning victim in Gi-Gu, Tainan yesterday. Unfortunately, among four male teenagers who involved in this accident, two had lost their life.

According to the local news, susan and Nicole(translated from 蘇珊與妮可) from England and Canada bravely and determinedly jumped into a very tough oceanic condition to rescue this victim when heard calling for help.
That area is famous for tough condition, especially windy and wavy.

The lucky terror-stroken survivor said, he would have died with their rescue. Two female English said it was terrifying but they just did everyone would have done when seeing people drowning. The local news praised highly the braveness of these two English teachers. I’m presonally grateful for they save of a life.

My thoughts
I am sorry to hear stroies like this again and again. Drowning has been one of the main causes of death among teenagers in Taiwan. I told my flatmate who is also an English teacher, she said right way, why Asian people don’t know how to swim? Exactly, it is in our culture which I call it aqua-phobia culture.

I remember when I was young; whenever I went to river, pond, ocean…I dared not to tell my mom, because my mom would be very worry and angry. She thinks water bodies are very dangerous. No wonder, there were more than 1000 people die from drowning each year in this little water surrounded island.

As a result of it cause, Taiwanese people or like my flatmate said, a lot of Asian people, don’t like their kids to approach any water…Thy consider water (ocean, river) to be dangerous. They don’t encourage their kids to learn how to swim, so a lot of Taiwanese adults can not swim. A lot of Taiwanese adults never receive proper swimming and self-rescued lesson when growing up. Some parents even think that if their kids are able to swim, they would go swimming, chance of drowning would be higher.

But to be close to water is human nature. Once in life time, just once is enough, that a person who doesn’t know how to swim had a chance to be in water…when slipped into deeper(over one’s head) areas or a certain wave comes…they would be in very dangerous situation.

Besides, they wear clothes on the beach, by the river, they don’t want to get tan or they don’t want to expose their bodies…then, they are putting themselves in a very tough situation cause clothing constrain a swimmer

Way to go Ladies!

Ya did your best. Good job.

Swimming in Ontario, Canada is pretty common and is one of the first things you learn how to do as a child besides riding a bicycle. Going up to the cottage or camping. Learning how to fish and what to look for in the forest. Hunting. Boating. I remember I wasn’t allowed to drive a boat untill I could swim the length of the lake my Dad prefered to fish on.

I would have to say it’s pretty common. Most if not all of my friends have these experiences and others. Programs like Outward Bound helped one of my friends develope his overwelming love for the Canadian Outdoors.

It’s sad. My wife grew up beside a river in Muzha (it was clean back then and nice for swimming) but her father deliberately wouldn’t teach her and and her brother to swim, thinking it would keep them away from the water. Yeah. It almost cost them their lives a few times.

Nowadays you see no swimming signs all over the island at the most beautiful swimming spots on beaches and in the rivers. Unfortunately they are necessary. If someone sees you in there they will assume it is safe (ie, harmless; nothing could happen to them even if they don’t know how to swim; come on in experienced and novice swimmers alike!!!). They then jump in and drown or put your life at risk saving them.

Yes, swimming skills and general water safety sense are desperately needed.

I want the swimming holes at Wawagu open!!!

Where I come from, swimming classes are mandatory in primary school. Everyone should learn how to swim before the age of 10 - that is governments school policy. Needless to say, almost 100% of the population born after WWII can swim.

While my dad was here last year in May, we went down to Kenting, and did some swimming on the east coast of the island tip. Was fun, I rented a surf-board, and my dad was trying out my fins. Anyhow, there was this family with a teenage boy, maybe 14. He was trying out one of those wider beginner surfboards, while my dad was in the water.

Well, at some point my dad noticed the board floating by. He secured it, looked around and saw the kid jumping around in the water. My dad thought the kid was playing but nevertheless, brought him the board, just to be nice. But apparently the kid was panicing and drowning, while his familiy was having a picnic at the beach. So my dad pulled him in and went back to his beach towel. After a while, one of the family members came over and gave my dad 2 can of beers as a thank you, while the boy was still shaking at the beach.

So I am wondering, how can adults/parents let their kids, that obviously cannot swim, play unattended in the open ocean with a surfboard, which was also not secured to his leg with the safety line, and go one with their picnic, while the same kid is drowning. :loco: :loco: Anyhow, I guess the kids life was only worth two beers and a thank you. :smiley: :smiley:

“Two English teachers rescued a drowning victim in Gi-Gu, Tainan yesterday”

Careful folks…don’t forget…if the FAP were around they could face possible deportation for volunteering without an appropriate visa and permit. :runaway:

On a more serious and less sarcastic note:

I applaud their bravery. They are truly heros.

Nice to see some positive news about foreigners in the local press for a change. Well done girls!

As a former lifeguard (allbeit indoor), I can tell you exactly how. They believe that the surfboard will keep their kid safe. They don’t realise how easy it would be for the kid to fall off, and not be able to get back on. They also do not realise how commonly the board gets taken out to sea. Even if their kid’s leg was tied onto the safety line, it would not make it much safer, if any, if the kid can’t swim.

I can’t tell you how many parents I had to tell off for leaving their infants in a rubber ring without supervision and going for a swim in another pool (If you don’t realise why that’s dangerous, please ask, and I’ll be happy to tell you why). Some parents just don’t get it.

Bravo to the two girls, and yes, it IS good to see some positive news about foreigners for a change. I wonder if they use this site.

+1 to redwagon’s sentiments… well done ladies, you’ve done yourselves and the rest of us proud… :bravo:

also +1 to Wenkao’s optimism that this will open some people’s eyes, especially govt people about teaching kids how to swim… It is an island FFS…

:uk: :canada:

I am not so sure that the parents are unaware of the dangers. I think it is a similar situation to the no helmets phenomena that we see on a daily basis. To that end, just the sight of a kid, helmeted or not, on a scooter in this traffic is cringe-worthy. But we have to realize that this culture’s belief system is heavily steeped in luck. If something bad befalls you, it was meant to be.

Also, alot of folks here are buddhist, and their tenet is not to interfere. These girls are now responsible for the life of their survivor. They have interfered with the karmic progression of nature.

I am not saying what they did was wrong, just examining the other side of the coin.

On another note, I am growing weary of all this vicarious living witnessed around here. Someone does something wrong and it reflects on all foreigners? Likewise, these girls make us all look better? Come on people. If someone judges me by the actions of others, they are not worth the time of day, imo. I, alone, am resposible for my actions, behaviour and reputation.

I would have jumped in too. But then again I’m stupid enough to.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I would have as well. One of the things I am most proud of accomplishing in my adult life is my various First Aid accreditations. I have my WMT ticket (Wilderness Medical Tech) and my Rescue Diver cert. I have always dropped whatever I was doing to attend to a victim.

Like I said, there are 2 sides to every coin. Just thought the other side worthy of dicussion.

And I would jump in and save you, BFM. :sunglasses:

I wonder if the two foreigners will get deported. Do their ARCs allow volunteer rescue work?

[quote=“Flicka”]I wonder if the two foreigners will get deported. Do their ARCs allow volunteer rescue work?[/quote]That’s a joke yes?

Swimming involves being in the sun for too long. Taiwanese don’t like to be in the sun.

T.

I’ve always been a big swimmer. Not necessarily fast, but a strong swimmer, probably due to the fact that I learnt to swim in the sea as I grew up in Durban, South Africa. It’s alwasy fascinated me when someone says they can’t swim, largely because I had no lessons but taught myself. Doggy paddle and eventually moving the arms about in a freestyle fashion. By the time I got to Primary school (elementary school) where swimming lessons were compulsory as part of three times a week PT classes I could already swim fairly well.

And good on the two girls for saving the young fella. I bet he’s feeling very happy they were around and about…

Bismark
-I found that ocean swimming people are stronger swimmers, Aussies, Hawaiians,So.Africans and Californians.

Swimming in a river, pool or lake is a lot different than swimming in the ocean. Currents, temperature change etc.

I swam out to a buoy in Thailand with two Swiss PE teachers once and they had to turn back. They hadn’t counted on the current. I was surprised since they were much younger and in better shape than me.

My roomate saw a young kid die last year in I-Lan in 2 feet of water on the beach. There were people running around the beach screaming, nobody knew CPR. He tried. No good.

The OP forgot to mention that when you wear clothing near the beach it not only contricts your movements it weighs you down.

If Taiwanese people are afraid of water, don’t know how to swim, and can’t perform basic first-aid why are they stupid enough to venture close to water all for the sake of a picture of them having fun? :loco:

BTW
Good Job Ladies!

It’s different in Hong Kong, thanks in part, perhaps, to the British colonial education. Have you watched the swimmers in Kowloon Park? The standard is pretty high.

For some reason I couldn’t learn to swim properly in England. I would like to thank sports teacher Xin Litian of the Beijing Languages Institute for finally managing to teach me when I was about 20 years old.

I’ve been involved in a couple of situations here, both at the same watering hole in Wulai. About 3 years ago, I was having a bbq~beerbinge~swim with friends, when 20 or so teenagers showed up. After some time a few of them got up the courage to dare each other to jump off a cliff about 10-12Ft above the water. I wasn’t really paying attention, but then I heard my GF and her friends yelling and screaming for me to come over. About 30ft away in the deep end, I could see a kid floating about 3ft underwater like a fetus. I dove in, my heart beating 300bpm, and pulled the kid out. It was very strange that none of his friends tried to help.

Last year, almost the same place, a young, overweight kid about 10 was playing around in the water. Mom/dad and their mini rat-dog were on the other side of the creek. I notice the father starting to yell and wave his hands. Then I looked over and saw Hsiopang go under. The father was closer to him than me, but did nothing. I jumped in let the kid crawl up on my back and walked him to shore. No big deal for me, but it was life or death in less than 5 seconds if no one else was there, thats for sure. They just laughed it off. ~So goes life.

Since we live on an island it seems only logical that everyone learns how to swim, even just knowing how to doggy paddle/tread would save many lives every year. I know during Ghost month there is a additional fear about getting in the water.

PS. big congrats to the girls for helping. (i did not see the story).