How people are killed while snorkeling
How people are killed while snorkeling
Snorkeling is not a difficult sport to master, unlike its more serious cousin Scuba. The scuba apparatus is more complicated and has more inherent dangers in its use. Snorkeling, on the other hand requires only three basic pieces of equipment: a face mask, swim fins and a snorkel or breathing tube. There are occasional mishaps with the face mask, such as breaking or cracking face plate, but these would probably not be life threatening, unless it was combined with some further injury. The snorkel or breathing tube would also not be dangerous in and of itself. When one is near the surface of the water, lack of oxygen is not a problem; the snorkeler can just lift his head for air. Nor can swim fins be thought of as dangerous to snorkelers. So, ultimately the equipment in snorkeling, unlike that of scuba diving does not cause people to be killed while snorkeling. What is dangerous and can lead to people being killed while snorkeling comes down to three problems. The first is physiological, the second emotional and the third is physical. PHYSIOLOGICAL Each year a number of otherwise healthy people, usually young people die in drowning incidents where they were surrounded by people and in fact could have stood up and been out of danger. They die because they black out due to breath holding. Sometimes it is a contest to who can swim the farthest underwater, other times it may simply be overestimating one’s capabilities. Which ever the cause, they drown because they black out in the water and the lungs become full of water since they do not realize they are in danger. EMOTIONAL This is another word for panic. Human beings are prone to panic. When one is in a dangerous situation, rather than calmly thinking things through and coming to a solution that will remove the danger, the snorkeler panics and ends up either putting themselves in worse and deadly danger, or they make the wrong decision and it cost them their life. PHYSICAL When snorkeling in waters where you are not familiar with the species that inhabit the area, it’s wise to swim only with someone who knows what to expect. Another physical danger is that of being stung or bitten one of the dangerous sea creatures which life on the ocean’s surface. Sometimes stings of creatures such as the Box Jellyfish are merely painful. At other times, they can lead to death. It’s best to avoid touching animals which may be hazardous to your health.










