Arab News has a piece about efforts by the Saudi Coast Guard to improve water safety along the country’s coasts. The piece is discordantly amusing in its placing blame for drownings on ‘picnicking close to the sea’. No, it’s not the picnicking, it’s the going into the water that causes people to drown…

But the issue is a real one and a problem that can be avoided to a large degree. The article notes that many women drown while trying to save a child in trouble in the sea. I don’t suppose trying to swim while fully clothed has anything to do with that.

Coast Guard mounts awareness campaign
Faiz Al-Mazrouei | Arab News

DAMMAM: The Coast Guard command in the Eastern Province is working to curb the incidents of drowning by training the force and spreading awareness about the risks of picnicking close to the sea. The move comes in the backdrop of a large number of accidents especially during summer in previous years, Lt. Col. Muhammad bin Saad Al-Ghamdi, Coast Guard’s director of public relations, told Arab News.

“Thanks to the campaign, only two people drowned during the first half of this year,” said Al-Ghamdi, citing statistics from the past. He said 20 people drowned last year alone while 444 were rescued, and a total of 63 people drowned and 1,392 were rescued over the past five years.
…