6 year old and his Aunt drown in front of 15-20 people this weekend.

[wonkwest]

23. Crowded situations are almost worse

Diffusion of responsibility. People assume someone must be watching.

About five years ago, I was at a luau/pig roast my brother was having for my niece's birthday. About fifty people were milling around his yard. They had one of those big inflatable pools. Any of the smaller kids had to have water wings. Well, the two moms who were ostensibly supposed to be watching were kind of looking away while chatting and sipping drinks. As I sat on the deck sipping a beer, I watched a four year old girl tip from the deck head first into the pool. No one noticed. Not the moms, not the other kids in the pool - and this was a small pool. Only maybe 15 feet in diameter and about four feet of water. I jumped up and hurried over. The kid was still head down in the pool. I grabbed her ankles and pulled her out. She wailed.

It could've been that quick and that easy for disaster.

I told my brother about it immediately. It was the last time an inflatable pool was at one of the kids' parties.

There's a very scary channel called Life Guard Rescue on YouTube. They show situation after situation of kids in pools surrounded by people where no one around them is paying attention or realizing they're in distress.