The price of a moment is life: in the Gomel region, children’s recreation near the water is under special control

Summer is a time of joy and carefreeness for children and special responsibility for adults. it increases rapidly when it comes to boys and girls relaxing near the water. Here the price of one moment may be too high - the life of a child. Sad cases both in the country and in the Gomel region confirm this. What additional measures are being taken in the south-eastern region to avoid the death of children in water bodies was discussed today in the regional executive committee.

Deputy Chairman of the KDN of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, Evgeniy Mitkevich, said that on the eve of the holidays, significant preparations were made in the region - they determined plans for the employment of minors, for their safety, and paid great attention to preventive and explanatory work: through meetings, meetings, parent chats in instant messengers.

“Since the start of the HEALTH campaign, we have been keeping our finger on the pulse every day, but, unfortunately, tragic incidents could not be avoided,” he stated with regret.

In total, 11 children have died in the region since the beginning of the year. Five are on the water. So, in the Gomel region on March 22, a minor was skating on ice, fell through the ice and died. In the Rogachevsky district on April 17, a child drowned in a bathtub: his mother left him unattended for some time. In the Zhitkovichi region, a teenager born in 2006 went fishing with his grandfather - the bodies of both were found in the river. On June 28, in the Zhitkovichi district in Pripyat, a girl born in 2014 drowned, and on July 1, a vacation by the water for a baby born in 2018 in the Svetlogorsk district tragically ended.

In the last two cases before the emergency, adults drank ALCOHOL , Evgeniy Mitkevich noted. “However, we cannot absolve the subjects of prevention regarding the work that was carried out with these families,” he added.

The region has developed an algorithm of actions. For example, closer attention will be paid to identifying those parents who do not fulfill their responsibilities, bring their children to places where swimming is prohibited, or drinkalcohol near bodies of water. Police officers will immediately inform the guardianship and trusteeship authorities if they find minors with adults in a state of intoxication. Measures include removing the child and handing him over to relatives or placing him in a social shelter or health care facility. Such measures are determined by regulatory and legislative acts, noted the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee.

“If there is a clear threat to the life of a child, then the reaction should be the most serious,” he is convinced.

Evgeniy Mitkevich appealed to everyone who relaxes on reservoirs with a request not to be indifferent and to report cases where adults are putting children’s lives at risk.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Gomel Region Olga Shevchenko emphasized: an analysis of the tragedies of both last and this year showed that most accidents occurred due to the fault of parents. “Parents must realize: they are responsible for their children. But often adults do not respond to comments, even if they relax in prohibited places with children. Greater integrity is needed in this matter in order to turn the situation in the other direction,” Olga Shevchenko is convinced.

Senior Inspector for Special Assignments of the Department of Law Enforcement and Prevention of the Public Security Police of the Internal Affairs Directorate Sergei Poterukhin recalled that every day at least 170 employees work at recreational areas near the water in the region. “Since the beginning of the swimming season, more than 1,720 offenses have been detected near reservoirs in the region. A third are related to alcohol consumption, 687 are related to swimming in unidentified places, 4 reports were drawn up against parents whose children swam in unidentified places without adult supervision,” he cited the figures .

During the discussion, a proposal was made at the legislative level to enshrine the norm so that children under 10 years old, even in permitted places, swim only in armbands and vests. Chairman of the regional organization OSVOD Pavel Novik assured that the initiative will be considered and voiced at a higher level.

Another problem was that parents who came to the beach with their children often sit on their phones, mothers endlessly take selfies, without concentrating on the safety of their children. “Adults are literally abdicating their responsibility, shifting it to OSVOD workers. However, they must understand: a parent comes to the beach not to relax, but to fulfill his parental responsibilities and not endanger the child,” emphasized Pavel Novik.

“Trouble teaches and unites,” noted Zhanna Zhdanovich, deputy HEAD of the main education department of the regional executive committee. According to her, after the incident with the girl in Svetlogorsk, some approaches were revised in the region. For example, we have taken special control over children’s visits to kindergartens, especially those who need additional protection. “The four-year-old girl, at the request of her mother, was at home. That is, the child should have been completely under the supervision of her mother, who is now on maternity leave. If the child had been in kindergarten that day, the trouble would not have happened,” Zhanna Zhdanovich is convinced.

In her opinion, preventive work is important in any business . “And we carry it out. For example, the guys from the Rechitsa district lyceum walk along the beaches, hand out reminders, information booklets about the responsibility of parents and possible consequences. Joint raid teams also work - teacher-parent patrols, together with the KDN, OVD, OSVOD, visit areas prohibited for swimming,” she added.

Pavel Kononchik, head of the service and combat readiness department of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, called the position of some parents an ostrich - hiding their heads in the sand and trying to evade responsibility when they relax in unauthorized places. “It is these places that we focus on when monitoring. After all, there are the greatest risks. We have also introduced the practice of aerial monitoring. We fly over the region, if we see violations, we report to the police department, and the police react,” explained Pavel Kononchik .

Another new practice - 35 cadets from the University of Civil Defense of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will come to the region. Together with the teaching staff, they will carry out preventive actions in children's educational institutions, at reservoirs, in shopping centers, and go on raids.

“In addition, to help OSVOD, we have allocated 10 water rescue groups. We are on duty in the most visited unauthorized recreation areas. But again, not a single prevention subject will physically cover every meter of water. First of all, safety is the consciousness of people,” - Pavel Kononchik emphasized.

“We are constantly looking for new approaches to keep children safe. And here it is important to interact with the subjects of prevention and understand the responsibility of the parents themselves. Together we must do everything to save the lives of children - to avoid accidents on water bodies, on the roads, and in everyday life After all, the lives of children are the most important thing,” concluded Evgeniy Mitkevich.

BELTA.