display
Frankfurt / Main (dpa / lhe) - In Hesse, the number of bathing deaths increased in the past year.
A total of 23 people were killed in a swimming accident, reported the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) on Tuesday in Berlin.
That was three more than in the previous year.
According to the DLRG, eleven people drowned in rivers, ten in lakes and one person each in a stream and in a canal.
The most common fatal swimming accidents occurred in the summer months from June to August and in September.
There were also three preschool children among the victims.
"Here the already declining swimming ability of the children is certainly a cause, which the Corona year 2020 has unfortunately only made worse by long-term closed baths," said DLRG President Achim Haag.
An accident in Trebur near Groß-Gerau was particularly tragic: a five-year-old boy drowned in the Rhine in June.
The 30-year-old mother was also killed while trying to save the child.
display
The development in Hessen was different from nationwide.
The number of bathing deaths in Germany fell from 417 to 378 last year.
The increase in bathing deaths in August 2020 was noticeable. Because of the corona pandemic, more people stayed in Germany, says Haag.
The rush to inland waters and the beaches of the North and Baltic Seas was sometimes very large.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210309-99-751301 / 2
DLRG statistics 2020