Death wave!

I was a little unnerved in reading the title of this article a few days ago: "Death wave".  Here's the first part of the article:

A PICNIC party over the weekend turned into a nightmare when a 13-year old daughter drowned while swimming with a group of friends in the Sabeto River, Nadi, on Saturday.

The girl was swept away by a sudden surge of currents caused by heavy rains in the mountains.

Korobebe villager Ratu Apenisa Naikere said although it was not raining at Naidele where the girl was swimming, there was an unexpected wave of currents which swept down the river.

Police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri confirmed the incident happened at around 3pm on Saturday.

Insp Sokomuri said according to weather reports on that day, it had been raining at Nagado and Navilawa villages. "The heavy rains caused a sort of freak flood. That's why it was sudden."

Insp Sokomuri said several other swimmers at the popular swimming spot were also swept away.

Mr Naikere said a police search party located her body near Namasimasi Primary School at 5.30pm.

Not  familiar with the Fiji geography I can only surmise that it was a wave-like incidence happened in the high mountains. So it does not matter where, beach or mountain river bank "swept away by a sudden surge of currents", the tragedy resulted is all the same saddening.  Here's the last part of the article:

Police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said: "This is something that we want to prevent but despite our warnings, it seems that people are not listening.

"The drowning of the young girl on Saturday afternoon is one of the tragic consequences of people not listening to our advice."

He said they hoped the public, especially parents of young children to be more vigilant when out swimming in the sea or in rivers.

"Our advice to parents and to the general public is that they should be more careful. We urge them to take heed of weather reports and not take any chances when there is bad weather," he said.

Insp Sokomuri also urged teenagers not to succumb to peer pressure and follow their friends to the beach.

"Many of our young people today always listen to their friends more than they do to their parents. The incident over the weekend was the result of friends going out for a picnic without any adult supervision," he said.

Some well thought out advices and comments may be only parents can appreciate and understand.  Let's pray and hope that youngsters would also listen because their life may be depend on it!