Number of child drownings on the rise in Switzerland

With 17 cases, teenagers and young men aged 16 to 32 accounted for almost 30% of the deaths. Keystone-SDA

The number of drownings in Switzerland fell slightly last year. A total of 58 people lost their lives in water in 2023. The majority of victims were young men and children. There was a marked increase in drownings among children.

The 58 cases recorded last year remain above the long-term average of 47 cases per year, said the Swiss Lifesaving Society on Monday. With 17 cases, teenagers and young men aged 16 to 32 accounted for almost 30% of the deaths.

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In this age group, no female victims were recorded. A taste for risk and an overestimation of individual abilities may explain the high rate of drowning on the male side.

+ Over 8,000 people swim across Lake Zurich

Never before have so many children up to the age of 16 drowned since 2007. In four of the seven cases, the children were under ten. A one-year-old drowned in a bucket of water in the family garden, another in a river, two in a swimming pool, and three in a lake.

Saving the dog

Conversely, 12 people over the age of 65 drowned last year, compared with more than twice that number in 2022 (26 victims). It is possible that medical problems and an overestimation of physical abilities played a role.

In three cases, it is assumed that the victims (two aged 53 and one aged 61) drowned by jumping into the water to save their dog.

+ The rise of urban swimming in Swiss cities

The majority of fatal drownings occurred in open water. The 29 deaths that occurred in lakes accounted for half of all cases, while river drownings accounted for 40% (24 deaths).

There is a direct correlation between high temperatures and hours of sunshine on the one hand, and the number of drownings on the other. According to MeteoSwiss, the summer of 2023, with its sunny June, was the fifth-hottest since measurements began in 1864. Many people wanted to enjoy the water relatively early in the year.

However, the summer was disrupted by bad weather in August, which contributed to the fact that the number of fatal drownings was not higher.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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