Istanbul Municipality lifeguards save 4,800 people from drowning in summer

ISTANBUL

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has announced that lifeguards in its fire brigade department have saved 4,800 people in the province over the course of this summer, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 20. 

According to the municipality, a total of 481 lifeguard municipality personnel conducted inspections of 38 stretches of coastline in the province, amounting to 47,800 meters long, with the help of 35 jet skis, seven rescue boats, two amphibian rescue jets, 14 four-wheel-drive vehicles or ATVs, and two drones, rescuing 4,800 from drowning in their efforts. 

The municipality also stated that it worked throughout the summer to regularly measure the water’s cleanliness and provide cleaning services for the beaches throughout the day, adding that the biological wastewater purification plants aim to provide clean sea water and coastlines for Istanbulites.

Before the establishment of wastewater purification plants, almost all wastewater in Turkey’s largest city used to flow into the Marmara Sea, contaminating its water. Many streams were thus almost like open sewers, carrying the wastewater into the sea and potable water resources. However, the situation has changed thanks to the population’s wastewater being purified due to the construction of treatment plants around the city.