Towels left behind are timely reminder of lives lost.

A day on, or near, water is something we all look forward to, especially on hot, long weekends. But for around 400 Canadians a year, that day tragically is their last day. Drownings happen too often, can happen to anyone, and are preventable.

Ahead of last August’s long weekend, we helped the Lifesaving Society of B.C. & Yukon draw attention to the issue using something we all associate with a fun trip to the beach – beach towels.

Four hundred towels were laid out on a beach near Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Each towel represented one of the four hundred Canadians who never returned from the water last year. The poignant display was captured in a single drone shot. The budget for the production, execution and post-production was just $6,000.