Video

[Anchor]

At a beach in Goseong, Gangwon Province, yesterday (July 26), three people were rescued in a state of cardiac arrest and transported to the hospital all in one day. Because the location is not designated as an official beach, there were no life-saving personnel, leading to inevitable delays in responding to the accident.

Here is a report by reporter Jo Jaegeun.

[Reporter]

At a beach in Goseong, Gangwon Province, around 2:10 PM yesterday, five vacationers enjoying the water fell in.

Three of them managed to get out on their own, but among the remaining two people in their 50s, one was rescued by safety personnel dispatched from a nearby beach about 500 meters away, and the other was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. However, both had already gone into cardiac arrest.

The beach where the accident occurred is located in front of a condominium operated by the Armed Forces Welfare Corps. It had operated as a beach until last year, but gave up its operation as a beach this year.

Although banners urging safety were hung and rescue equipment was provided on the beach, the accident could not be prevented.

Because no life-saving personnel were stationed there, delays in responding to the accident were unavoidable.

[Bae Sung-jin / Safety Team Leader, Hwajinpo Beach: (At the moment of rescue) he was already in a state of cardiac arrest, so we pulled him out and loaded him onto a jet ski. When we came out, the 119 emergency rescue team happened to arrive, and they performed CPR...]

Around 4:00 PM, at another beach in Goseong, a person in their 20s snorkeling was also transported to the hospital in a state of cardiac arrest.

This beach is likewise not a designated beach.

[Lee Moo-yeol / Tourism Facility Team Leader, Goseong County Office: (Designated beaches) are places where we install swimming boundary lines, and water safety personnel control swimmers so they do not go beyond the boundary lines, allowing for an immediate response in case a water-related or other accident occurs...]

Over the past three summers, a total of 81 safety accidents occurred at non-designated beaches in Gangwon and Gyeongbuk, claiming 30 lives.

(Video by Kim Dae-cheol | Footage provided by Sokcho Coast Guard and Gangwon Fire Headquarters)