Until July, a total of 75 people have died in drowning accidents in Sweden.
This is an increase of 21 people compared with the corresponding period last year and two from the total number in 2020, according to the Swedish Lifesaving Society's preliminary statistics.
- This is not how we can have it.
We need to increase the information on the outdoor pool and the understanding of the drowning process.
No one should underestimate the course of events or overestimate their own ability, says Mikael Olausson, water safety manager at the Swedish Lifesaving Society.
In July alone, 26 people lost their lives in drowning accidents, 13 of them in municipal open-air baths.
Twelve of the accidents took place in a lake and six in the sea.
Others occurred in river, river, pool, pool and pond.
- What other leisure facility would it be okay for people to die without taking measures to prevent more fatalities from occurring?
There are simple and in this context cost-effective measures to relatively easily increase safety at the country's outdoor swimming pool, says Olausson.
Requires action
According to him, there are at least three reasonable levels of intervention as a minimum measure to eliminate dangers and reduce risks:
- Information to the visitor, adequate lifesaving equipment and at several outdoor baths, it is absolutely justified to staff with lifeguards who have the knowledge and ability to increase safety through promotion, prevention and remedial measures.
The number of people who died in drowning accidents in July this year does not stand out significantly from the average for the 2000s, which is 24 people on average.
The large increase compared to the same month last year - when a total of 11 people lost their lives - is more deviant, Olausson points out.
-An explanation for the fact that the number of drowning accidents has increased may be due to the summer heat and that many had holidays at home.
Regardless, the municipalities must address this by mapping and analyzing all bathing sites for which they are responsible.
Gloomy trend
Most recently on July 25, SVT Nyheter reported on a dark weekend in which at least five people died and several people were taken to hospital due to drowning accidents.
- Children must learn to swim and adults must continue to swim.
Maintaining your swimming skills is extremely important, swimming skills are a fresh product that needs to be trained regularly, but unfortunately it may have suffered during the pandemic when the swimming pools were closed, says Olausson.