After a boy almost drowned while bathing and was rescued at the last moment, the manager of the Freising open-air pool appeals to parents and other guests.
Freising - It was the most dramatic incident that has ever happened in the fresch.
As reported, a twelve-year-old boy perished on Sunday, who luckily was successfully rescued and reanimated in time.
In the FT interview, pool manager Alexander Frederking reports what conclusions he draws from the accident - and he appeals to all bathers.
Mr Frederking, the most important question first: How is the boy doing?
Yesterday after the resuscitation he was already stable and responsive in the swimming pool.
We can only speculate about why he drowned in the leisure pool, whether he was not yet completely safe to swim.
And how are your staff after the extremely emotional effort?
Everyone is happy that the boy is fine.
After the deployment, our employees were also looked after by the crisis intervention team.
Because it is of course particularly emotional when a rescue operation involves a child.
Many parents who were in the bathroom also showed their dismay.
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Alexander Frederking, head of fresch, is proud of his employees, who reacted correctly and quickly to the accident.
© Gleixner
Have you already analyzed the mission?
We have already gone through it with the employees.
I am very proud of them because they responded correctly and quickly.
Fire and rescue services have also confirmed this to us.
It took less than ten seconds from recognizing the emergency to resuscitation.
I am glad that our training courses, which we hold regularly, have borne fruit here.
Because such accidents do not only happen in the deep swimmer pools.
"Extremely difficult to tell whether someone is playing or is in need"
What insights do you take with you from the incident in order to further improve safety in the fresch? Do we need more supervisory staff?
We were very well positioned.
In addition to six lifeguards from us, two people from the water rescue team support us on busy weekends.
The pools were constantly monitored.
It was hot, there were more than 1000 bathers in the fresch. Not easy for lifeguards to keep an eye on everyone in the pool.
We lifeguards are used to this kind of stress.
We have had such weekends many times and fortunately have only had very few missions so far.
We also change the supervisory areas several times a day so that nobody is operationally blind throughout the day.
The problem is: the children dive through the water all day long.
It is extremely difficult to tell whether someone is playing or is in need, especially since drowning often happens silently.
"In principle, the duty of supervision lies with the parents"
Does that mean that parents also have to keep an eye on their children?
Yes, in principle the duty of supervision rests with the parents, because they know their child best and can therefore best assess how safely the child moves in the water.
The lifeguards are responsible for road safety.
We are there to make sure that nobody gets hurt.
In general, I appeal to all bathers to be vigilant towards others.
Everyone must be made aware of the fact that water is a dangerous issue.
From what age can children go into fresch without a guardian?
In principle, children from the age of seven who can move safely in the water are allowed to visit the fresch.
This corresponds to the recommendation of the German Society for Bathing.
But you also have to say that you can't fix everything in terms of age.
There are seven-year-olds who swim great and 14-year-olds who are still unsure.
"After such a long break, beginners in particular have to start carefully"
Unfortunately, swimming courses have not been able to take place since the outbreak of Corona.
And that tore an immense void.
An entire year fell by the wayside.
The good news is that we're starting again soon.
We have a long, long waiting list and we want to work it off this year.
In order to close the gap that Corona has created, we also want to offer crash courses at short notice in the summer.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind all parents and guests that swimming must continue to be practiced.
After such a long break without swimming, even those who have already practiced, but especially those who are new to swimming, must start carefully.
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