Water Safety New Zealand's Swim Reaper will be out patrolling the hot spots over the summer months. Photo: Water Safety NZToday marks the first day of summer, and also the beginning of peak drowning season. Water Safety New Zealand's Swim Reaper will be out patrolling the hot spots over the summer months, in a bid to both shock and alert swimmers to the deadly consequences of poor decision making. "They represent about a third of the preventable drowning toll and yet only about 14% of the population," he says. 68 people have so far drowned this year, including a one-year old child who drowned in a pond on Thursday night.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 01, 2017 06:00 UTC