Diving medicine

COVID-19 patients and their families have told BIRN of spending hundreds of euros, in some cases up to 1,500 euros, on oxygen equipment for home use. Some said they subsequently offered the equipment for sale on social media.

The Turkish Armed Forces and Red Crescent volunteers helped an elderly man with chronic lung disease get a new oxygen tank on April 17 in eastern Turkey.
Mehmet Kahraman, 81, lives in Sulucem village in Ağri province and suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). When his oxygen tank went empty, he called 156, the emergency number for the Gendarmery Forces.

Sea drownings are a scourge for Greece, according to statistics. Figures indicate that this country has one of the highest occurrences of drowning deaths in the European Union, but also on a global scale. In 2018, more people died here as a result of drowning than in Italy which has six times Greece's population.

Health experts are calling on citizens to show greater caution when swimming in the sea after official figures pointed to more than 400 deaths by drowning last year. 

A total of 413 deaths by drowning were recorded in Greece last year, compared to 400 in nearby Italy, whose population is nearly six times that of Greece. 

The National Public Health Organization (EODY) on Wednesday issued a series of guidelines aimed at reducing the number of drownings at Greece's beaches, advising people with children to be vigilant at all times and to opt for locations that have a lifeguard service.

More than 4500 lifeguards for the beaches and open waters and about 10,000 pool rescuers have been trained over the last ten years, said Anton Nalbantov, director of the Bulgarian Red Cross Waterway Service at the opening of the traditional Water Rescue Week. He added that 1300 lifeguards are needed for the beach in Bulgaria.

A pioneering woman pilot in Turkey, Ebru Ünsal, who saved a passenger's life on Nov. 6, has related the challenges of being a woman pilot to daily Hürriyet.

Pilots are physically exhausted by their occupation, she said.

Inflatable rings, splashing families and general activity make it hard to spot the young boy struggling to keep afloat and in danger of drowning. Luckily, the lifeguard on duty spotted him.

Drowning is not as people imagine with the victim usually unable to shout or wave for help. If not rescued somebody can drown within 20-60 seconds.

Six foreign migrants suffering from hypothermia were being treated at a hospital in Hania on Saturday, with one of them, a young girl, deemed to be in critical condition.

The six patients were rescued after their boat went down 300 miles east of Malta and were flown to Greece, which was the nearest landfall in helicopter range.

Greece defends handling of illegal immigrants