Emergency Cards EN

International

Drowning

Reviewed

Use at your own risk. For education and research only. Not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in, because they change. Before you rely on these cards, ask a medical professional or a fire safety specialist to review them. Disclaimer

Do this first

Do not jump in after them. Reach with a pole or branch, throw something that floats, and call 112.

Drowning is silent and takes under a minute. There is no waving and no shouting, only a head slipping low in the water. It also routinely kills the rescuer, because a panicking person will climb whoever swims to them. The rule that protects you both is reach or throw, do not go.

Step by step

  1. Shout to others, call 112, and keep your eyes locked on the person. On open water, note a fixed point on the far shore in line with them.
  2. Reach from firm ground with a pole, branch, towel or paddle, lying down so you cannot be pulled in.
  3. If reaching fails, throw a lifebuoy, a rope, a cooler, an empty canister or anything else that floats, and tell them to hold on and kick.
  4. Enter the water only as the very last resort, and only if you are a strong swimmer. Take a float with you and approach from behind.
  5. Once they are out of the water, check response and breathing. If they are not breathing normally, give five rescue breaths first, then thirty compressions to two breaths. In drowning, the breaths matter.
  6. If they breathe but are unresponsive, use the recovery position so water can drain, remove wet clothes and cover them to keep warm.
  7. Everyone pulled from the water must see a doctor, even if they feel fine. Inhaled water can inflame the lungs hours later.

Never do this

  • Never swim to a panicking person without a float between you. A drowning person will push you under to climb up.
  • Never press on the belly or hang the person upside down to empty water. It wastes time and causes vomiting into the lungs.
  • Never dive into unknown or shallow water, and never chase a person swept away along the bank alone without calling first.

Call emergency services if

  • Anyone struggling in the water, and anyone pulled out unresponsive or not breathing normally.
  • Anyone who was underwater even briefly and now coughs, breathes fast or behaves strangely.
  • Any child after any submersion incident, however brief it seemed.

Common questions

Why breaths first in drowning, when regular CPR skips them?

A drowned heart usually stops from lack of oxygen, not from a rhythm problem. Refilling the lungs first treats the actual cause. If you cannot or will not give breaths, do compressions anyway. They still help.

Cold water, how long is rescue worth attempting?

A long time. Cold water slows the brain's use of oxygen, and children in particular have survived long submersion in cold water. Keep resuscitating until professionals take over.

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Sources and standards

Use at your own risk. For education and research only. Not medical advice. Check the numbers and rules for the country you are in, because they change. Before you rely on these cards, ask a medical professional or a fire safety specialist to review them.