High number of drownings a concern

This year's drowning toll is continuing to outpace 2010. File photo / Thinkstock

With five drowning deaths in June, this year's drowning toll keeps outpacing 2010.

The national drowning toll for 2011 now stood at 67, 15 higher than at the same point last year, Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) said today.

WSNZ's general manager Matt Claridge said two of this month's incidents were especially concerning.

"Alcohol consumption has been the primary factor in a recreational boating death, and a four-year-old has been tragically lost due to a disused water tank in a rural area not being adequately secured," he said.

Adults made their own decisions and if someone chose to drink excessively and then undertook aquatic based activity they knew the risks.

"However, small children have neither the ability nor the knowledge required to make a decision about their own safety," he said.

The responsibility lay with the parent or caregiver. Appropriate supervision was essential as well as the identification of potential water hazards both within the home and in the neighbourhood.

Of those who died in June, one was classified as recreational boating accident, one as swimming accident, one as a suicide and two as accidental immersions.

- NZPA