KARACHI, May 20: Lifeguards posted at the Emergency Response Centre (ERC) at Hawkesbay have not yet been provided with necessary life-saving equipment despite the beginning of the high-tide season in the Arabian Sea.

These lifeguards are responsible for the lives of people visiting beach areas lying between Sandspit and Hawkesbay.

The sea is rough during the high-tide season, increasing the likelihood of accidents, including injuries and deaths by drowning. Officially the season begins on May 15 and lasts till Sept 15.

Incidents of blue bottle bites are also reported during June, July and August, when the jelly-fish approach the coast during their mating season.

Karachiites mostly visit the beach areas — Hawkesbay, Sandspit, Paradise Point, Neelum Point and Cape Monze — during the hot summer months between May and October. On an average, some 50,000 people visit these areas on a daily basis during the summer holidays.

Officials of the ERC, which is affiliated with the city government’s fire brigade department, is the only source of first aid and rescue for the people frequenting the beaches of Karachi.

Inadequate facilities in the ERC not only irritate its officials but also prove to be troublesome for the victims of accidents as they first have to be brought to Hawkesbay even if they are to be given first aid for minor injuries.

There are 44 lifeguards posted in small groups at 12 points along a 20 kilometre-long area between Sandspit and Cape Monze but they are without any communication link. It is almost impossible to inform the ERC workers in case of an emergency.

Apart from saving the beach goers from possible emergencies, the life guards — who are distinctive by only their badges — face difficulties as they try to restrict the visitors from moving too far into the sea. Despite warnings, visitors constantly defy them and often protest over the restrictions.

When contacted, the ERC lifeguards complained about the unavailability of uniforms while their chief, Zafar Iqbal, expressed concern over non-imposition of Section 144, saying that they had no legal authority to restrain the general public from going too far out in the sea.

He said that the ordinary picnic goers were oblivious to the dangers of high tides or the rough sea.

Mr Iqbal said that construction of watch towers had been planned along the 22-kilometre-long stretch of the beach area, adding that if these towers were built they (the ERC workers) would be able to provide better emergency service to the visiting Karachiites.

But, he said, none of the departments concerned, including the fire brigade and the community development departments, seemed to be assigning any priority regarding the implementation of the plan.

He said that the vigilance of the Emergency Rescue Centre had paid off as no casualty occurred at the beaches during the past year, adding that six persons had been killed in 2001, nine fatalities during 2000 while there had been 17 casualties in 1999, including the 11 persons killed on Aug 14 that year.

While conceding that the average annual rate of fatalities from drowning at Karachi beaches was 10, he said that occurrence of such incidents were quite low near Clifton and the Sea View mainly because of the sandy composition of the beaches there, which reduced the intensity of current and waves.

People, he said, were also discouraged by water pollution and heavy presence of police also prevented the visitors from going too far away into the water in these areas.

He, however, said that a few casualties had been reported last year at the Do-Darya, which was at the far end of the Sea View.

He said that Aug 14 and Eid days were the days when the maximum number of people visit the beaches of Karachi as the previous in charge of the ERC, Mohammad Shahid, who was working closely with the UC Nazim Mubarak Singo, had to hire the services of 30 volunteers.—PPI