A large number of accidents on the rivers occurs due to the entry of swimmers who do not know how to swim well, into the whirlpools formed above the pits or deep depressions at the bottom of the reservoir. Unfortunately, very few people managed to get out alive from this deadly “carousel” in the water without outside help.
What to do if you fall into a whirlpool?
A person, drawn in by the power of rotating water, is twisted in one place and thrown to the surface several times. In most cases, people die due to lack of air and the fear that fettered them. In fact, as experts teach, self-control in such a situation should never be lost. It is necessary to mobilize, make every effort to be able to dive to the very bottom and, pushing off from it, swim to the surface away from the whirlpool. Only an experienced swimmer or an overly strong-willed person can do this.
If you look closely at the flow of the river, then on the surface of the water you can always notice small or large swirls, indicating that there is some kind of foreign object at the bottom: a stone, a snag, a hole.
Whirlpool Features
You can get into the whirlpool when swimming, when crossing the river to ford or swim. The peculiarity of the whirlpool is also dangerous in that the rotational force throws cold water from the bottom to the surface of the river, which becomes a surprise for a bather or swimmer. The vessels of the human body from a sharp drop in the thermal regime react differently to this. Someone can seize a strong cramp, someone will experience a sharp narrowing of them, which can cause dizziness or loss of consciousness. All this happens in water, at a certain depth. Therefore, you should not expose yourself to such potential danger in any case. It is better to be guided by a wise life proverb on the rivers: “Not knowing the ford, do not stick your head into the water”.
The case of a person falling into a whirlpool
Although, of course, life situations are very different. I recall the story of one friend, how she, a girl who could not swim, crossed a shallow stream along an old and half-collapsed village bridge. Fortunately, her older brother and parents followed her. Stumbling, the girl fell into the water and found herself in a strong whirlpool. The water pulled her to the bottom and again threw her to the surface. Help arrived just in time. Parents pulled their child out of the water. She herself now recalls that there was a terrible feeling of fear, a complete lack of air and iridescent circles before her eyes. And nothing more. But the fear of water remained until the end of life. Now this girl, who has become an adult woman, is terrified of not only rivers and lakes, but even swimming pools, where her children go with pleasure.
Another acquaintance, a villager who grew up on the banks of the large Belarusian river Viliya, told how he once took his whole family by boat to the opposite bank for berries. But he is 16.00 had to go to the second shift to work. So he left the boat with oars to his wife and children, forded home across the river. All the inhabitants of the village used this place to wade, the bottom, as the narrator claimed, was studied by him from and to, but the emergency still happened where he did not expect it at all. Ten meters from his native shore, a local resident suddenly plunged headlong into a very deep underwater hole. Every riverbed undergoes changes every year.
To escape from the whirlpool, he had to throw in the river the clothes that he carried in his right hand, and already swim, not feeling the bottom under his feet, to get to the shore.
He returned home in his swimming trunks, all blue and shaking from the shock experienced while fording the river. I almost said goodbye to life due to a huge washout in the channel, formed after a strong spring flood.
Any accidents that happened to people because of their carelessness or arrogance, but did not end in a fatal outcome, teach a person a good lesson that you need to treat your life with care. ‘Cause there won’t be another one.
And this is also one of the mysteries of nature.
