A 12-year-old boy drowned on Wednesday after falling from a cliff in Tullingesjön in Huddinge. It was the second drowning accident among children in less than a day after a 7-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool in Vellinge on Tuesday.

Every year, between 5 and 15 children die, according to statistics from the Swedish Lifesaving Society. The statistics are weather dependent - in good weather accidents increase and rainy summers decrease them. So far this year, six children have died in drowning accidents, compared with seven children last year and twelve children the year before.

"Small children should not be alone in the water"

According to Mikael Olausson, head of safety at the Lifesaving Society, the most common cause of drowning among children is lack of supervision and many accidents could have been avoided by simple means.

- Small children should never be left alone in the water. You should be at arm's length so that you can intervene quickly, he says and adds that children should preferably be at the age of twelve before they can be left to swim on their own.

- But preferably you should not swim alone, even if you are able to swim.

In the accident in Vellinge, 3 people supervised a class of 40 bathing children.

- We have followed the municipality's guidelines that there must be at least 2 people on site, says Vellinge municipality's education director Stefanie Sennervall, who adds that the accident is now being investigated by both the police and the municipality and that all swimming lessons are currently on ice.

Swimming skills on the way to becoming a class issue?

Sweden has long had a high level of swimming skills and the number of drowning accidents has fallen to around a hundred people each year, compared with 350 just 50 years ago.

But, the Lifesaving Society is worried that the numbers may rise in the future, not least because many children do not get the swimming lessons they need. Many municipalities reduce swimming lessons as it is very expensive. Admittedly, there are many private swimming schools, but the capacity is limited and it also costs money, which not everyone can afford.

-There is a risk that swimming skills will become a class issue, says Mikael Olausson who calls for a "takeover" in terms of swimming skills and bathing safety, not least from the municipalities.

- We need to maintain the swimming skills we have.