Garda to Boost Beach Safety with Lifeguards and Patrol Boats

Lifeguards on the beach and a boat crewed by water safety specialists. This is how the Garda capital plans to face the upcoming season. A topic that has recently come back dramatically into current affairs after the drowning incident on May 1st involving a 23-year-old gas station attendant from Mantova in the waters off Desenzanino.

The tragedy and institutional responses

The outing of six friends on a pedal boat turned into a tragedy when the young man accidentally fell into the water approximately eighty meters from the shore. Despite frantic rescue efforts by friends, who threw two lifebuoys and a young female friend jumping into the water to help, he unfortunately sank. His body was recovered about half an hour later; he was found lying on the bottom at four meters deep.

The aftermath of this first tragedy of the year echoed in the City Council, initiated by Rino Polloni, who proposed an urgent motion titled “For an Extra Life.” The document recalls the most significant incidents in recent years that have strongly brought back the issue of safety for those navigating or bathing in Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake.

The tragic incidents and safety measures

We recall them starting with the tragedy that occurred on the eve of Ferragosto two years ago, when an afternoon thunderstorm caught a family of seven Scottish tourists on the upper lake by surprise. The boat was overturned by the waves: three people drowned. The others, clinging to the overturned boat, drifted throughout the night, while search operations were halted during the night hours and were casually intercepted and rescued later by the driver of the cleaning boat that was heading to Sirmione the following morning.

Then there was the case of the Milanese canoeist caught in a storm at Desenzano. His body has never been retrieved from the lake. Rino Polloni notes in the motion how the inflatable boat of the Desenzano Police Department was recently transferred to Brindisi, and he claims that the renewal of the service of the Coast Guard patrol boat is still uncertain, which last summer carried out about twenty interventions on the lake.

For these reasons, the motion urged Desenzano’s administrators to secure funding to establish as soon as possible a patrolling and prevention service in the areas in front of the beaches of the city of Desenzano, between Vo’ and San Francesco. The initiative, which tasks the mayor with verifying the feasibility of the intervention, was approved.

Measures and the future of the surveillance service

“We aim to move on two very specific fronts,” explains the mayor Anelli. “On one side, we will ensure the mandatory presence of a lifeguard at all beaches and bathing centers in Desenzano. We have already done this at Desenzanino, from Spiaggia d’Oro, and we are about to renew the agreement at the Rivoltella bathing center.

From the ground, with a paddle boat, the rescue officer will monitor bathers on the lake. We also plan to ensure a presence by activating the lake surveillance service. Polloni’s proposed use is of the regional Lombardy’s motorboat, a Rio 630 with a 145-horsepower engine, docked at Dusano. The Region is willing to entrust it to us, even to sell it.

Now, we need to assess whether, through a budget adjustment, we can find the funds to operate two crews, thus launching this new service, says the mayor. The vessel is intended to patrol the stretch of lake from Vo’ to San Francesco.”