Why do people die? In a split second, life ends. Sometimes avoidable: where care should have been taken but was ignored due to negligence. I saw a near-fatal incident at the swimming pool last week. Two young men were with me in the pool, both comfortably swimming in the deep end; I regularly looked out for them just so I wouldn’t bump into them.

I was relaxing in the shallow end when I realised one was under the water a tad too long but paid no attention; after all he’d been swimming in the deep end for over 15 minutes earlier.  In a split second, his friend was lifting him out of the water asking for my help, I hesitated because I thought it was a joke, I only moved when it was clear the young man was unconscious.

Two minutes later, he opened his eyes, completely oblivious to what had happened. What if his friend wasn’t in the deep end with him? Why wasn’t the life guard/swimming instructor around? Why was the pool was left unsupervised? Death can be avoided if more public places are monitored.

Oluwapelumi