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Berlin (dpa / bb) - In Brandenburg, a total of 24 people drowned last year - ten fewer deaths than in 2019. Swimming in rivers and lakes is particularly dangerous, as the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) on Reported on Tuesday in Berlin.
«Rivers and lakes are still the greatest sources of danger.
Only a comparatively few bodies of water are guarded by lifeguards.
The risk of drowning there is therefore many times higher than on coasts or in swimming pools, ”said Achim Haag, President of the DLRG.
A total of 21 of the 24 fatal swimming accidents in Brandenburg occurred in lakes, ponds and rivers.
Three quarters of all fatalities were men.
As in previous years, the DLRG drew attention to what it saw as a precarious situation in swimming training.
Nationwide, a quarter of all elementary schools cannot offer swimming lessons, swimming courses at associations are sometimes fully booked for years and the closings due to the corona pandemic have exacerbated the situation.
She urges renovating ailing public pools and offering more swimming lessons in schools.
Nationwide, there were 378 deaths, around nine percent fewer fatal swimming accidents than in the previous year.
Above all in the most populous federal states of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, the death rate fell markedly.
As usual, more than half of the swimming accidents occurred in the summer months.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210309-99-750119 / 2
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