The Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office will study issues of ensuring safety on water bodies

January 19, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office plans to study the issues of organizing mass recreation and ensuring the safety of citizens at the region's water bodies on the eve of the swimming season opening. This was announced today at a press conference by Deputy Prosecutor of the region Georgy Korenko, BELTA correspondent reports. The relevance of the problem was confirmed by the past swimming season, when amid abnormally hot weather, the number of deaths at water bodies sharply increased. In July alone, 85 people drowned – this is 2.5 times more than in the same month of both 2008 and 2009. The prosecutor's office inspected places of mass recreation, and the leadership of the region and districts were informed to address problematic issues in ensuring the safety of citizens at water bodies and preventing deaths on water. This concerns the possible expansion of equipped and adapted places for recreation near water bodies, and timely financing of such measures. On the eve of the 2011 swimming season, the prosecutor's office will study the progress of the planned measures for organizing water recreation, Georgy Korenko specified. According to him, in 2010, there were over 130 organized places for mass recreation at water bodies in the region, while the region has about 2.8 thousand lakes, 240 small rivers, and 2 large rivers. As a rule, people die outside equipped swimming areas, where there are no rescue posts, the bottom is not inspected, etc. "There is still very serious work to be done in organizing recreation at water bodies, so the prosecutor's office will monitor the resolution of issues related to creating safe conditions for water recreation," Georgy Korenko noted. At the same time, among the main causes of death on water were swimming while intoxicated, as well as children being near water without adult supervision. Citizens often behave carelessly, showing negligence towards themselves and their loved ones, the deputy prosecutor noted. In 2010, 223 people drowned in the Vitebsk region, including 149 citizens who died while swimming. -0-