BATHING ACCIDENTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1664, 3 February 1913, Page 6

BATHING ACCIDENTS.

SURFER WASHED ASHORE ; UNCONSCIOUS. ANOTHER HAS HIS CLOTHES • BURNED... When tlio sun blazes fiercely, and tho gea invites bathers of all kinds to come in and get cool/there is usuiilly a rush to tho .baths and'the, beaches, and with such a crowd as was tempted to bathe on Saturday' rind. Sunday there were almost sure to be ..accidents to record. Quite a nutnhor occurred, nono of which • fortunately,' were' of a, serious character, thanks to tho prompt measures taken by other people present.- . At the Thorndon Baths, at about 10.30 a.W'vesterday.'a man named P. Rao/ who had-been in the water, for about fifteen minutes, fainted 'when approaohing_ the Bteps.; -" Luckily .. his .'plight ' was, noticed, and'somo'of the bathers got the man out and tarried liini' to tho landing, Where the oustodian (Mr.; T. J.-Calnan) applied first aid mothods, and in.aboiit ton minutes the sufferer came' round; and was able to leave-tho baths none tho worse for. his close call. ' .

, A. somewhat similar: mishap ,'befel' a surf-bather at Lyall Bay yesterday afternoon. ,He had .been shooting the breakers for some .timo, when, owing to the heat of the'sun ,or over-exercise .(or both), he suddenly lost'command ,of his' faculties, without the: fact 1 'becoming immediately known :to /anyone. Indeed, it was . not. until he was rolled into shallow watei' by the surf, in an apparently lifeless condition! "that' anything was known. Then eome members of tho M-aranui Surf Club noticed/the inert body in the'irater,, carried .'.tho'man on\ to the beach, got, to work on him . .with 1 first " aid methods, and pumoed quite a lot of water out of him before ho signs of returning animation/ In about a quarter •of an hour he was brought to. It was a case of touch'and go, and should be a warning to surfers—inexperienced. surf-org-hnot to.over indnlge in the recreation in hot weather, and to habitues of 'the beach to keep a shaiT) loot-out on those bathing immediate, vicinity. The boys of the Maranui S,urf Club deserve credit for the smart wanner in which they rendered such timefy aid. ■ Still , another incident,. which has a humorous aspect, occurred to a surf bather,.nt 'Lyall Bay on_ Saturday afternoon. The man in question—a clerk in'a local .warehouse—stripped, Off among the sjnd, dunes,' and after placing his clothes in ■ a/heap/went to disport himself gaily in the breakers. Whenlio ,had communed sufficiently with the waves, .he )iptook'himself to the soot where he. had left his clothes/ only to find itjmarked by a heap of burning ashes and smouldering clothes. 'All his clothes had been burnt/and even his boots and the bag in which he .carTied his bathing dress and towel had perished by' fire. Beyond the supposition that a lighted match had been thrown among his clothes,-either by himself or someone .else. '„ he was unable, to account for the accident. As the immediate rosult of the accident, ythe bather had to stay shivering in his wot'bathing dress until other clothes were brought out froa toira.