According to the DLRG, 378 people drowned in Germany last year, which is more than the year before. Comparatively few people died in the sea – the danger lurks elsewhere.
At least 378 people drowned in Germany last year. That is 23 more than the year before, as the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) announced. As in previous years, significantly more males (292) than females (77) died. The gender of nine other drowned people is unknown.
16 of the fatalities were younger than ten years. In the 2000s, the DLRG counted an average of 45 fatal accidents in this age group. Awareness of the dangers to children in water has “clearly improved,” said DLRG President Vogt. She recalled the importance of swimming lessons for primary school children. This is just as much a part of “basic training” as reading, writing and arithmetic.
DLRG appeals to only swim in patrolled waters
Overall, according to Vogt, around 90 percent of deaths occurred in inland waters, which are mostly unguarded. She called on people to only swim in guarded swimming areas if possible. In lakes there were 138 drownings, nine fewer deaths than in the previous year, in rivers (135) there were 30 more than in 2022. 27 people died in canals, eight more than in the previous year.
Comparatively few people died at sea: among the total of 27 deaths were five sailors who died in the water in a freighter collision off Heligoland. In 2022, 18 people drowned in the sea.
As usual, most people died in the water in the summer months in 2023. However, there were comparatively more deaths in September. Late summer once again attracted numerous bathers to the waters, which also led to a sharp increase in swimming accidents, explained Vogt. An unusually large number of people – more than ever since 2017 – also died in the last three months of the year.
Most people drowned in Bavaria. 62 deaths in the Free State were eight fewer than in the previous year.