Drowning: Rising safety concerns |
A series of drowning incidents across the valley has shattered multiple families. The recent tragedies read like a litany of heartbreaks. In Pahalgam, a family outing turned into a fatal disaster when a young boy attempting to click photographs, slipped into the roaring currents of River Lidder. Driven by pure instinct his father jumped into the treacherous waters to rescue him While the son was pulled out alive, the father was swept away by the strong current. On the very same day at Surrinder in Bandipora district another father-son duo swept into a water body, though the father was rescued but his son was lost to depths. In Tangmarg a three year old boy fell into the water body, and was brought dead to the Sub District Hospital Tangmarg, while in Srinagar a teenage boy met a similar, silent end in Nigeen Lake.
Drowning has quietly become one of the leading causes of accidental deaths in Kashmir. According to the official records from the State Disaster Response Force(SDRF) in the previous year 2025 alone,65 drowning deaths were reported with only 20 individuals rescued alive and several others missing.
Drowning is a swift, deceptively silent killer. It happens quietly, often within minutes of a lapse in vigilance. The risk factors and causes vary sharply across different age groups and........