Cancun, Q.R. — The number of lifeguards along Cancun beaches will be added to for the upcoming Easter holidays. Antonio de Jesús Riveroll Ribbon who heads Cancun Civil Protection said 10 additional lifeguards will be added to the beaches they are responsible for.
The head of the Benito Juárez Civil Protection Directorate says he plans to hire 10 temporary lifeguards to reinforce surveillance on the city’s 11 municipal beaches. The additional 10 will join the 23 lifeguards they already have, plus the 13 firefighters who also participate beach emergency work.
In total, a staff of 46 is expected to be deployed across the 11 beaches under the municipality’s care.
“This is an issue we’ve been working on since the beginning of the year for the budget with the Chief Officer and the Mayor. Previously we had a low lifeguard staff number but there were requests for rehiring or an expansion this season, so now we have 23 members,” he said.
He says that during the Easter holidays, as many as 50,000 people are expected to visit Cancun’s beaches. This represents an increase of more than 15 percent.
“The goal is to have 40 to 46 lifeguards on public beaches because we’re going to extend the hours once the high season begins and we have to schedule the guard duty as the number of beachgoers increases,” he said.
According to the staff’s supervision protocol, upon arrival at the public beach, they must first conduct a visual count of swimmers, reporting the beach’s conditions and opening times via radio. They then conduct surveillance patrols, enter the water to check for tidal surges, and place flags at the beachfront or on lifeguard towers to warn people before entering the sea.
The public beaches under Civil Protection that will have lifeguards include Playas Langosta, Pez Volador, Tortugas, Caracol, Gaviota, Ballenas, Chacmol, Delfines, Marlín, Las Perlas and Playa del Niño.
The head of the agency emphasized that the beaches are regulated by flag guidelines based on the weather. Yellow (cautious swimming), Red (total area restriction and/or swimming prohibited) and Green (safe).
