Three Britons and a German have drowned off the coast of the Alga

cheets64 · 23 Oct 2007 at 07:35

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7057412.stm

Three Britons and a German national have drowned off the south-west coast of the Algarve, in Portugal, while trying to save children.

Three other Britons were in hospital following the incident near the town of Sagres, said the Foreign Office.

Local authorities said they dived in to try to help three children later washed ashore with slight injuries.

So sad, don't know how the children manage to be washed up to the shore while the adults drowned, the kids have lost a mum and a dad

oxygene · 23 Oct 2007 at 07:39

they were prolly on an inflatable boat or something

neil3k · 23 Oct 2007 at 07:49

was expecting a joke

Jimmeh · 23 Oct 2007 at 08:28

Yeah saw this on the news. Tragic.

scorza · 23 Oct 2007 at 08:54

Tragic

Heard on the radio this morning that despite it being half-term, the Portuguese authorities decided to scale down life guard operations at that beach as it was "out of season"

!bluetonic! · 23 Oct 2007 at 09:45

Thoughts go to them, but this is exactly why in the PCSOs not saving Jordon Lyon from drowning was probably the right thing to do. Without the proper training and execution of plan, disaster can happen even with the best intent.

pinkacidbootson · 23 Oct 2007 at 09:47

!bluetonic! said:
Thoughts go to them, but this is exactly why in the PCSOs not saving Jordon Lyon from drowning was probably the right thing to do. Without the proper training and execution of plan, disaster can happen even with the best intent.

This was in rough sea though.

moon man · 23 Oct 2007 at 09:58

Very dangerous coast, and when a rip gets you you havnt got a chance of fighting it just travel across it or ride it out , but if your swimming!
regarding lifeguards its the same in England i surfed in Perranporth over the weekend and they had lifeguards on duty but down in porthtowen and st agnes where i was before none at all , no funding maybe

lordfletch · 23 Oct 2007 at 10:09

!bluetonic! said:
Thoughts go to them, but this is exactly why in the PCSOs not saving Jordon Lyon from drowning was probably the right thing to do. Without the proper training and execution of plan, disaster can happen even with the best intent.

where possible should realy attempt a rescue on the water(using common sence ) but of course there are risks, as for funding lifeguards in the uk , the lifeboat is publicly funded so unless councils do it, there will be none.

GarethDW · 23 Oct 2007 at 13:56

Received an email about this earlier today. One of the victims worked at the same company I work for. All of the British victims lived in a nearby town which is small, so they were known by many people.

Tragic news. My sincere sympathies go to the families of all the victims - especially the children who survived and will be trying to cope now and make sense of what has happened.

Jolly_Jason · 23 Oct 2007 at 13:59

moon man said:
Very dangerous coast, and when a rip gets you you havnt got a chance of fighting it just travel across it or ride it out , but if your swimming!
regarding lifeguards its the same in England i surfed in Perranporth over the weekend and they had lifeguards on duty but down in porthtowen and st agnes where i was before none at all , no funding maybe

Totally different, this was the sea with serious under currents, the other was a pond with very little currents. Personally I would have at least attempted to help rather than just stand their :mad:

G-MAN2004 · 23 Oct 2007 at 14:33

Tragic.

Rest In Peace.

JodieO · 23 Oct 2007 at 15:33

I saw this on the news ealier, so sad

regimentaldj · 23 Oct 2007 at 22:53

Weird cause although the rip at Tonel takes you out to a big scary looking rock it harmlessly washes you either side of it and ends not much further out than that. It's not that strong a rip either. I can only assume the people who went to rescue were weak swimmers and kept swimming against the rip rather than across it. Can get big swell at Tonel but will always wash you into shore.
Me and a mate ended up saving some kid down at sennen cove few weekends back, who had a panic attack and hyper ventilated after realising he was caught in rip on his surfboard and getting sucked out. Now that was a long swim back!
Should be in the school curriculum that should always swim across rather than against rips

MumboJumbo · 23 Oct 2007 at 22:56

Just saw this on the news it really is very sad. Whats so pointless about it is that those stupid children went back there after being saved once. What a waste of a life. When they grow up they are going to relise they caused the death of 3 men because of their stupidity.

[TW]Fox · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:02

!bluetonic! said:
Thoughts go to them, but this is exactly why in the PCSOs not saving Jordon Lyon from drowning was probably the right thing to do. Without the proper training and execution of plan, disaster can happen even with the best intent.

Exactly what I thought when I heard this.

First rule of first aid - you are no use to anyone if you are dead.

MumboJumbo · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:04

[TW]Fox;10339168 said:
Exactly what I thought when I heard this.

First rule of first aid - you are no use to anyone if you are dead.

But where do you draw the line. You see children drowning and you want to help. If you dont its going to way on your conscience a long time and then youve got the press to deal with and the screeming mothers. I dont know what id do.

Could you condem a child to certain death and watch it happen?

ChoÞÞer · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:25

neil3k said:
was expecting a joke

same, i was ready for a joke, had a ****ty day.

lay-z-boy · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:29

8igdave said:
But where do you draw the line. You see children drowning and you want to help. If you dont its going to way on your conscience a long time and then youve got the press to deal with and the screeming mothers. I dont know what id do.

Could you condem a child to certain death and watch it happen?

Common sense, for me would draw the line. If there were some people in the sea that needed help, I would make sure I would be safe then help. If it's not safe then you call for professional help.

[TW]Fox · 23 Oct 2007 at 23:36

8igdave said:
But where do you draw the line. You see children drowning and you want to help. If you dont its going to way on your conscience a long time and then youve got the press to deal with and the screeming mothers. I dont know what id do.

Could you condem a child to certain death and watch it happen?

But in the case of the PCSO's, the child had gone, underneath the water.