Police Chief of Operations ACP Livai Driu
At a time when families should be celebrating, a rise in child drownings is raising alarm bells, with authorities blaming poor supervision as the reason for the untimely deaths.
This year, the number of drownings stands at 59, compared to 56 during the same period last year, with a significant involvement of children.
Chief of Operations ACP Livai Driu says too many young lives are being lost due to lack of supervision.
He says that in some cases parents have been charged for neglect.
“The members of the public now are going out, spending time with the families, with a picnic and picnic spots, and having leisure time in rivers. So we would like to advise members, especially the par-ents, to be vigilant. They need to look after their young ones.”
With a heavy rain warning issued for greater parts of the country, ACP Driu says Fijians should take all warnings seriously.
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Coordinator Shamima Ali also shared similar sentiments.
“Either death can occur through drowning and things like that, particularly in this wet season, or being careless about children going out on the roads and getting into accidents and things like that. So we have to be very, very vigilant.”
There are also reports of flooding in some parts of the Western Division.