Emergencies
DLRG with numbers: How many people drowned in 2023?
The DLRG lifesavers present their statistics on deaths from drowning for 2023. photo
© Uwe Anspach/dpa
Hot summer days attract many people to the cool water – but there are also dangers in the water. By the end of July 2023, fewer people drowned than in the same period last year. But how was it for the year as a whole?
In the first seven months of last year, significantly fewer people died in swimming accidents nationwide than in the same period last year. But what did things look like for the year as a whole? She knows that German Life Saving Society (DLRG), which is presenting its statistics on deaths from drowning for 2023 today (11 a.m.) in Hanover.
According to earlier information, at least 192 people drowned in German waters last year by July 25th – 21 fewer than at the same time last year. The organization from Bad Nenndorf in Lower Saxony reported at least 355 bathing deaths in Germany in 2022, 56 more than in the previous year.
Swimming accidents in the federal states
The DLRG lifesavers say they have been keeping statistics since 2000 – with the aim of raising awareness about dangers on and in the water. In this context, the organization also wants to take a look at the coming summer and this year’s swimming season.
Most fatal swimming accidents in the period up to the end of July occurred in unguarded inland waters – not at the sea: 179 people drowned in rivers, streams, ponds or lakes by then. 9 people died in the North and Baltic Seas, 4 more than in the same period last year. According to the DLRG, mostly volunteer lifeguards guard many beaches there between May and September.
According to the data available so far, the number of swimming accidents developed differently in the federal states: In Bavaria, with its many lakes, 30 people drowned in the first seven months of last year – after 44 in the same period last year. In Hamburg, the number of drowned people rose from 4 to 9. In Schleswig-Holstein, 9 people drowned by the deadline at the end of July, after 13 in the same period last year, and in Lower Saxony the number of deaths fell from 25 to 18.