Summertime is bathing time. Many people in Baden-Württemberg are drawn to rivers and lakes. But some bodies of water are life-threatening and so the number of deaths and missing persons is increasing.
network/dpa
05.08.2024 – 13:05
In Baden-Württemberg, significantly more people drowned last year than in the year before. While 29 people died in rivers, lakes or streams in 2022, a year later the number was 43, as the German Life-Saving Association (DLRG) announced in the spring. The number of people who drowned was significantly higher than the previous year, especially in May and July, but also in September. More people also died in the water from October to December. The figures for 2024 are not yet available.
According to the DLRG, around four out of five victims are men, and almost every second person who died was over 60 years old. Most people drowned in the southwest in mostly unguarded inland waters; one person died in a stream, another in a canal and one in a pond. In Baden-Württemberg lakes alone, 21 people died (2022: 14).
Dead and missing at the weekend
Several swimming accidents at the weekend also kept rescue workers in Baden-Württemberg on their toes: a 17-year-old who had been missing since Friday is believed to have drowned in the Danube near Ulm. The next day, a body was discovered in a quarry lake in the Schwarzwald-Baar district. Another missing person report concerns two bathers who drowned in the Rhine near Hohentengen.
Nationwide, 378 people died last year (2022: 355). At least 20 of them were using water sports equipment when they drowned, including 7 on a stand-up paddle board. Water sports enthusiasts should keep an eye on their own safety not only in the water, but also on it. A sudden fall into the cool water can be life-threatening for a heated body, warned the DLRG. “Even experienced swimmers should therefore always wear a life jacket,” it said.
