NC swim classes fill as drowning deaths rise nationally

CHARLOTTE, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) – Broad River Greenway officials ask swimmers to take extra caution in the water following the drowning of a 10-year-old girl near Shelby this weekend.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said drowning deaths are on the rise for the first time in a decade.

Several bystanders jumped into the water to save the group of three girls struggling in the water Saturday evening.

Experts in swim instruction at Aqua-Tots Swim School say that those actions from people not trained in water rescues are risky.

“If you are comfortable in the water, but you’re not someone that has practiced rescues before, especially in lakes or somewhere that has a current, it’s very easy in a stressful situation to kind of end up in that predicament yourself,” said Keina Gularte, general manager of Aqua-Tots Ballantyne.

Gularte said adult supervision from the shore might not be enough to protect swimmers when it comes to rivers and creeks. She compared the dangers in the unpredictable flow of water to the dangers in the flow of traffic on a highway.

“There are cars coming and going. There are rushes of people on the highway and that’s a very dangerous and unpredictable environment. Thinking of the pool, or bodies of water, as that highway and making sure we’re understanding, there could be currents in here or there’s unexpected things that might come up,” she said. “Stay vigilant because you wouldn’t let your child just roam free on the highway and a pool or what body of water can be very similar to that.”

Instructors teach swimmers to remain calm and float, not fight the current.

They hope swimmers of all ages understand the basics of drowning prevention.

A Charlotte man in his late 20s drowned near the same stretch of Broad River in 2021, and a man in his 30s drowned two years prior.

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