Mangaluru: A proposal to set up the first Beach Safety Centre at Tannirbavi beach, with the help of the district administration and tourism department is being prepared, with surfers and coaches keen on setting up the academy to educate people on water safety and rescue techniques.

“Two certified and experienced trainers, Niroop G R and Srikrishna Vasanth from Puttur Aquatic Club went to Coogee, Sydney, to get trained in various aspects of life saving techniques.

Lifeguards Niroop and Srikrishna were fortunate to be a part of the Life Saving and Beach Safety Course in Coogee Surf Life Saving Club, Australia, recently. Their motive of attending the course was to advance their skills and knowledge on aquatic safety, and to start the first beach safety centre in Mangaluru, and then cover all the coastal states of India, to educate people regarding water safety and rescue techniques,” said Partha Varanashi, director of Surf Life Saving India (SLSI) and secretary of Mangalore Surf Association (MSA).

He told that it may require at least Rs 4 crore to set up a Beach Safety Centre. “We have already held discussions with the Dakshina Kannada district administration and the department of tourism, with regards to the proposal of setting up an exclusive training centre at Tannirbavi beach, which is very close to Mangaluru city.

The centre will have all the facilities to train people in various techniques of saving lives. We will meet deputy commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil soon in this regard. We, along with Niroop and trainers from Mangalore Surf Club, have already trained over 500 lifeguards, and successfully prevented 14 possible drowning cases,” Partha said.

Niroop, who participated in the Life Saving and Beach Safety Course in Coogee Surf Life Saving Club, Australia, in January, along with Srikrishna Vasanth, said they have been benefited immensely through the course, and they are hoping to garner support from the local administration to set up India’s first Beach Safety Centre in Mangaluru.

“The Lightning Bronze Medallion Course that we underwent provided us with in-depth knowledge of hazard identification, risk control, resuscitation techniques, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), patient management techniques, patient retrieval with and without equipment and performing radio communications.

The Silver Medallion Beach Management course included advanced search and rescue techniques in both the day and night, executing complex patient rescue techniques and demonstrating recovery.

Beach management also includes complete beach surveillance, managing rescue recovery requirement and preparing for the rescue, responding to casualties, building up leadership qualities, undertaking work activities, setting performance requirements and maintaining team performance, communicating with management and management of aquatic spinal injuries.

Our training also included the Nipper’s Age Manager course, that is about educating youngsters aged 5 to 14, regarding beach safety, and training them to save lives,” he added.