Interesting reading this part:
Thailand Cave Rescue Live Updates: Four Boys Are Out, 9 to Go
Why can’t the boys swim?
A Thai official has said that some members of the boys’ soccer team trapped in the flooded Tham Luang Cave network
don’t know how to swim, further complicating the rescue effort.
In Southeast Asia, not knowing how to swim is normal.
A key reason is that many mothers in the region believe that teaching their children to swim will increase the risk of them drowning, said Michael Linnan, the technical director at the
Alliance for Safe Children, a nonprofit based in Atlanta that has worked extensively in the region.
Dr. Linnan said it was not uncommon to see rates of swimming in low- and middle-income countries that is “well below” 20 percent, even among sailors, fishermen and others who earn their living on the water.
Drowning is a leading cause of death among children in low- and middle-income countries in Asia,
Unicef said in a 2012 report. Unlike in high-income countries, the report said, the danger to children typically comes not from swimming pools but from daily exposure to water and “spontaneous actions that put them at risk.”
In Thailand, the Health Ministry
reported in 2014 that drowning was the primary cause of death among children under 15. It said an average of four children in Thailand died every day from drowning, a rate that was five to 15 times higher than those for developed countries.
