Swimming pools are supposed to observe certain basic safety norms to minimise the chances of drowning. Metro visited the Azad Hind Bagh Mahila Samity club at Hedua, where 22-year-old novice swimmer Sangeeta Das drowned on Tuesday morning, and spoke to experts about the facilities. 

Here is what the club was found wanting in

RISKY TRAINER-NOVICE RATIO

There were three trainers for 25 novices at the club on Tuesday morning. There should have been at least six trainers, according to Saibal Sahu, who coaches the Bengal and the junior India water polo teams. Sahu’s state team trains at the Hedua pool. “There are no rules to impart training in swimming because it is a life skill. But generally, one trainer cannot take care of more than four novices at a time,” Sahu said.
Apart from the 25 novices, the three trainers were also looking after 35 swimmers.

Club officials were tight-lipped when asked at Burtolla police station about the number of trainers in the morning, but Metro saw the signature of only three trainers in the attendance register kept at the club office.

DID TRAINERS KNOW LIFE-SAVING TECHNIQUES?

Sangeeta was senseless when she was retrieved from the water. She was declared dead at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. The trainers tried in vain to revive her. Sources said none of the trainers was trained in life-saving skills. Metro, however, did not get the opportunity to ask the club officials at the police station about the life-saving skills of the trainers.
“A person who is drowning tends to grab the rescuer in various desperate ways. A person armed with life-saving skills knows how to hold the victim in such a situation. The rescuer should also know how to resuscitate a victim once he or she is out of the water,” said Ramanuj Mukhopadhyay, president, Bengal Amateur Swimming Association.

MISSING: DEMARCATION & RODS. SUSPECT: DEPTH

The shallow area where novices train is separated from the main pool only by pillars. So anyone can float into the main pool. Ideally, this area for novices should be completely cut off from the main pool.
Sources said the depth of the pool earmarked for novices is 4.5ft, which experts said is dangerous because children train there, too.
Metal rods, which learners hold on to while learning the horizontal posture, are missing at the Hedua pool.

WHY NO AERIAL VIEW?

A key safety norm in a swimming pool is to keep a watch on learners from a tower or an elevated point. Hedua lacks that basic safety facility. At Eastern Railway’s swimming pool in Behala, for instance, aerial monitoring is maintained though novices are not allowed in.

Text by Rith Basu and Monalisa Chaudhuri