‘We thought the armbands meant she was safe to swim… we were wrong’

A mum’s holiday video has gone viral after capturing the horrifying moment her daughter jumped off a boat into the sea with just a pair of inflatable rings around her arms.

Katya Ileri’s little girl just wanted to swim with her siblings and dad.

The Turkish family had all been jumping  off a boat into aqua blue waters, and the little girl had arm bands on, so they thought she was safe.

But in a terrifying video, Katya shows what can happen when kids don’t have safe floatation devices.

“A little recap of today’s holiday,” Katya captioned the video on Instagram.

The clip shows a man holding a little girl on the railing of a large boat.

She’s wearing swimmers, water shoes and inflatable arm band rings around each arm.

The man gives her a kiss on the cheek and then drops her into the water, thinking that she’ll go under and then bob to the top.

But as she hits the surface, the little girl throws her hands up and the armbands slip off. The camera shows two arm bands floating on the water as the little girl plunges into the sea.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

The video began with a man holding the girl on the railing of a boat. Photo: Instagram

People react to viral video about dangers of arm bands

Katya’s video quick went viral with over 90 million views.

People had a lot to say, with some shocked at how foolish the parents were for not seeing the danger of the situation, and others concerned about the little girl. The video was cut off when she hit the water.

“Never use arm floats on children. Ever,” one person wrote.

“A perfect example of a product design getting worse through the years. When I was a kid, water wings would graft themselves to your arm,” said another.

“How did he not see that coming? Seriously WTF? So irresponsible,” a third person said.

"I cannot find this videos funny! This is horrible what kind parent is this?!" one furious person wrote. 

Amid the backlash, Katya posted another video, saying that her daughter knew how to swim, and is very familiar with water given her coastal home. She said that the girl had insisted on jumping off the boat to join her siblings.

She also added that the arm bands had come off because the little girl’s arms were slick with sunscreen.

RELATED: Pool safety: The shocking video every parent needs to see

RELATED: Drowning warning after girl nearly dies in pool

The armbands slipped off the girl's arms as soon as she hit the water. Photo: Instagram

Dangers of armbands

While many of us spent our childhood summers sporting a pair of armbands on our upper arms, the modern consensus about armbands is that they're unsafe and unhelpful.

According to Little Fish Swim School, armbands can hamper kids' swimming progress and be downright dangerous. 

"Using [armbands] puts the child's body in a vertical position which is not the correct position for learning how to swim," the website says. 

RELATED: Popular pool fence across Australian backyards fails safety test

The presence of flotation devices also create a false sense of security in children and adults. "Children believe they can swim on their own with them on and then become reliant on them."

For adults, they might think their children are safe with armbands won't supervise as closely. 

Ultimately, armbands aren't fool proof. "They can easily slip off, deflate, or your child can tip in them and get stuck, unable to get themselves back up."

Originally published as ‘We thought the armbands meant she was safe to swim… we were wrong’