Lifeguards' safety claim axed after tragedy

By AINSLEY THOMSON

Surf Life Saving New Zealand will abandon its claim that "no one ever drowns swimming between the flags" because of a Christmas Day drowning at North Piha beach and other incidents.

Instead it will promote the message that the flagged area is the safest place to swim, although the present summer television advertising campaign, featuring ironman Cory Hutchings, will be allowed to run its course.

Eleven-year-old Sally Frenswa, from West Auckland, drowned while swimming with her family at North Piha Beach on Christmas Day.

Yesterday the Herald spoke to Sally's parents, Basil and Janet Frenswa, and her older sister, who did not want to be named.

Sally's sister said she was swimming with her at the time of the incident and is adamant they were between the flags.

"We went out and we were laughing and joking around, and we were definitely between the flags," she said.

"Then all of a sudden this really big wave came and just took us. Then we were taken out into the deep water, and we freaked out and kept nearly drowning."

She said that by this stage they had been dragged out of the flagged area.

After Sally drowned, Henderson Police Sergeant Gary Barber told the Herald the girls had been swimming between the flags, but lifeguards insisted at that time that the girls had been north of the flagged area.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand's northern region president, Tim Jago, said yesterday that when the lifeguards reached the girls they were definitely 150m north of the patrolled area.

But he conceded they might have been swimming in the correct area before getting into trouble.

"We can't rule out the possibility they were swimming between the flags and got sucked out and taken north," he said.

Mr Jago said it was not the first time in New Zealand's 92-year history of lifesaving that people insisted a drowned swimmer had been between the flags when swept away.

"There have been incidents over the past 20 years when families have challenged the integrity of the statement, and have said they know in their hearts the person was swimming between the flags when they got into trouble," he said.

In January 1993 Jamie Smith drowned while swimming at Bethells Beach on Auckland's west coast.

His friend Matthew Musson was on the beach watching him, and he is positive Mr Smith was swimming between the flags when he was swept out in a rip.

"We were there and saw it," he said. "He was definitely between the flags.

"My hand was in a cast that day or I would have been right there with him."

Yesterday Surf Life Saving New Zealand chief executive Geoff Barry said that, because of such incidents, the message "no one ever drowns swimming between the flags" was no longer appropriate.

But the organisation will let the campaign run its course because it does not have enough money to film another advertisement.

Mr Jago said the main purpose of the campaign was to promote swimming between the flags, and it achieved this purpose.

The organisation will fund the filming of a new advertisement for next season which will omit the statement.

Sally Frenswa's family was relieved to hear that the statement would no longer be used.

Sally's sister said she felt sick every time she saw the advertisement on television.

The family were thankful for the lifeguards' efforts to save Sally but wanted to correct any impression that she may have drowned because of cultural differences.

Four days after Sally's death lifeguards spoke out about foreign-born people getting into trouble in New Zealand waters because they did not understand what the flags were for or because they wanted privacy.

The Frenswa family are originally from Iraq but say that situation does not apply to them.

They have been living in New Zealand for more than six years, since Sally was four.

The family are Catholic and say they have no religious or cultural reason for wanting to swim separately from others on the beach.

Sally was not a strong swimmer but her family said she was well aware of safety.

She was swimming in relatively shallow water when she got into trouble but they insist she had been "in the right place" between the flags.

nzherald.co.nz/marine