This Slate piece from 2013 is especially relevant in light of the tragic drowning death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew know what to look for whenever people enter the water. […]

Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response—so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.

There are several signs of the Instinctive Drowning Response—that someone is drowning—including:

• An inability to call out for help. (“Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.”)
• Their mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. (They “are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help.”)
• An inability to wave for help. (“Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface… so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.”)
• An inability to control their arms (that is, voluntary movements like “waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment”).
• “Their bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick.” (They “can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”)

There are several other details to watch for—details that could save a loved one. I urge you to take a few minutes to read the Slate article and educate yourself. As it notes:

Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Be safe.