Bali is one of the best surfing destinations, often making the island less suitable for calm swimming due to numerous reefs, strong ocean currents, and powerful waves.
A 25-year-old Indonesian tourist named Ramandika Noprio Pareri, visiting from Tangerang, went for an evening swim with friends at Double Six Beach in Seminyak. They lost sight of him in the waves, and after unsuccessful attempts to find him, sought help from lifeguards.
The head of the Denpasar Search and Rescue Bureau, I Nyoman Sidakarya, reported that his team received a message from Kuta rescuers three hours after Pareri went missing. Search efforts began immediately, involving a joint team of rescuers from Kuta and Seminyak regions. Fifteen people, two jet skis, and a rubber motorboat were deployed for the search, including drones with thermal cameras.
The teams worked until the evening of the following day, ultimately discovering Pareri. Unfortunately, he was already deceased. Sidakarya urged the public to exercise maximum caution and attention when swimming in the ocean in Bali.
The ocean is a potentially treacherous element, and ignoring red flags indicating rip currents, overall weather conditions, and wave size can lead to drowning, even for those with good swimming skills. If caught in a rip current or powerful waves, it's crucial to remain calm. Panic is the main enemy in such situations. Regain your breath and focus on the task at hand. Escaping a rip current is not difficult; simply swim parallel to the beach for a few tens of meters in either direction. Attempting to swim directly to the shore is a serious mistake, as rip currents are essentially powerful rivers carrying a large volume of incoming water back to the sea. While these zones are not very wide, it's easy to exhaust yourself while drifting away from the shore.
Of course, swimming in turbulent seas at night is not advisable. It is genuinely dangerous, and there are usually no lifeguards on deserted beaches at night. Rescuing a drowning person without proper preparation is not only a very challenging task but also extremely hazardous.
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