2 DROWN OVER WEEKEND

Darla Miles reports

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Two young lives ended over the weekend in accidents in North Texas waters.

Last year, the number of drownings doubled from the previous year, and this season has already proven to be deadly.

Winston Ward, 16, drowned Saturday at a pool inside of the Omni Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. The medical examiner ruled it an accident. Ward would have been a junior this fall at Southlake Carroll.

On Saturday, an 11-year-old was killed in a boating accident at Lake Worth. Also at that same lake over the weekend, search crews pulled out the body of a 35-year-old man. He drowned on Thursday.

Yolando Trejo spent Father's Day at Lake Worth with her two kids. 

"[I] make sure they don't go off by themselves too far, too deep," Trejo said.

Doctors say water-related deaths can be prevented with just such precautions.

"A lot of pools are unsupervised," said Dr. David Smith, the lead ER surgeon at Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. "They're not lifeguarded."

Arlington police responded to a drowning call at a pool Sunday afternoon at LA Fitness. 

Dr. Smith said with the start of summer, they are already seeing an upward trend with both drownings and water accidents.

"When [people] are around water, unless they know how deep it is and unless they know there are no underwater obstructions such as logs or rocks, [they] shouldn't be diving into water they don't know the depth of," Dr. Smith said.

There have already been 50 child drownings in Texas this year. Last year, there were 82, which was a record. But, at this rate, drowning deaths in Texas are expected to hit another record.

Dr. Smith said 50 percent of drownings are alcohol related. He said drinking around water is as deadly as drinking and driving.

E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com