Every family has its own traditions and rarely do you think they will end in tragedy.
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A trio of men left their homes at Dodges Ferry early on Sunday morning on what was most likely a typical event for their family – cray fishing.
The men didn’t expect a rogue swell would capsize their fishing boat and send the three of them tumbling into the water.
Their loved ones didn’t expect that two of the men would not return home.
The incident at Dodges Ferry left two men, aged 81 and 82 dead, while a third man was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital after managing to swim to shore.
Another incident on Saturday saw a young life tragically cut short when a tree-felling incident went horribly wrong for one 21-year-old man at Cockle Creek.
And on Friday night, a 46-year-old man failed to negotiate a right-hand turn in the road on his motorcycle at Lake Leake and he crashed his motorcycle and subsequently hit a tree.
While these accidents over the weekend may have been unpreventable, I hope the incidents serve as a reminder to others who may be thinking of undertaking work or leisure of this nature.
A little more planning and thought may go some way to preventing some tragedies to make sure everyone gets to go home to their loved ones.
To some people, these activities – cray fishing, tree-felling and even riding a motorcycle, can seem relatively harmless things, especially if they are frequent activities for those involved.
Accidents are, by nature, unpredictable and they can easily become dangerous – even for the experienced.
Any activity can be dangerous; statistics show the most risky activity is something most of us do every day –drive a car.
Tasmania Police, Ambulance Tasmania and the Tasmanian Fire Service do a great job at responding to these types of incidents but it is just as important individuals take an extra few minutes to ensure they have all the right safety equipment just in case something does go wrong.
While Tasmania’s emergency services do their best to get everyone safely home from an emergency, there are things communities and individuals can do to ensure safety is paramount in any activity they undertake.
Our thoughts are with the families and friends of all four men whose lives were tragically taken this weekend.