Drowning Deaths In Spain Rise By 20% in 2019
Spain News
Published: 20 August 2019 11:25 CET
Updated: 22 August 2019 13:25 CET
Up until the 15th of August 2019, there has already been 268 deaths due to drowning in Spain, which is an increase of 46 deaths or a rise of 20.72% on the same period in 2018.
Sadly, in the first fifteen days of August alone, there were 35 drowning deaths across the country. Consequently, the Royal Spanish Lifesaving Federation are calling for legislation to be implemented.
The President of the Royal Spanish Lifesaving Federation has asked the government to implement legislation known as the State Plan for Aquatic Safety. This would be a structure to ensure that people in aquatic areas are equipped with training as well as ensuring prevention and regulation when it comes to water safety. Furthermore, there has been a social media campaign to help prevent accidents in water areas known as; #stopahogados.
So far, there have been 20 deaths for those aged under 17, which is a 122% increase compared to the previous year. However, fatalities for those over 65 has remained the same at 76 deaths per year in 2018 and 2019.
Valencia, Aragon, La Rioja, Cantabria, Asturias, Murcia, Catalonia, Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla y Leon have all seen an increase in water-related deaths. The majority of the deaths occurred on beaches, with 86 deaths in 2019. However, they also happen in swimming pools with 26 deaths and other aquatic areas which attributed to 69 deaths in 2019.
The statistics show that so far in August this year, 86% of victims are male with 83% of Spanish nationality, with 54% of fatalities occurring at the beach and 60% in unguarded areas. Over 75% of drownings happen between 10am and 8pm.
From the 1st of January 2015 a total of 1,974 people have lost their lives in Spain due to drowning with 69.8% of the victims over the age of 45.
Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay
