Heat wave, learning to swim, shortage of lifeguards … why the number of drownings explodes in France

Heat wave, learning swim, shortage: This article explores the topic in depth.

Moreover,

Heat wave. Nevertheless, learning swim, shortage:

essential According to Public Health France, nearly 200 people died by drowning in less than two months in France. Meanwhile, It is 45 % more than in 2024. Furthermore, Explanations. In addition,

The drama was established on Monday August 4 in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) on Monday: two 8-year-old children. Consequently, who have been missing a few hours earlier, were found lifeless in a swimming pool. For example, Two days earlier, a 13-year-old teenager was taken off Gravelines (Hauts-de-France). Meanwhile, On July 28. Consequently, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), a 69-year-old woman in cardiorepiratory arrest could not be revived by the rescuers of the large beach. However, In Grau-du-Roi (Gard), a 70-year-old man drowned.

An often underestimated danger of bathers. Moreover, According to the latest public health assessment France (SPF). published heat wave, learning swim, shortage on Friday 1is August, 702 drownings, including 193 deaths, took place in France between 1is June and July 23, 2025. Among the victims, 27 children and adolescents died, against 15 in 2024. This represents a leap of 45 % compared to the same period in 2024, where 133 dead had been recorded, details the health agency. How to explain it?

Read also: “No one is immune to an accident”: prevention more than ever vital in the face of drownings

A heat wave effect conducive to accidents – Heat wave, learning swim, shortage

In its report. Public Health France first points to a weather factor with the spell of early and intense heat that hit the country in June. This phenomenon “trained a massive influx towards swimming sites”, often improvised, sometimes dangerous, especially in bright waters. Rivers, rivers, lakes … often not monitored environments, which caused 15 of the 27 deaths of minors heat wave, learning swim, shortage listed.

Read also: “He managed to bring them back to the platform” … This future police officer jumps in the water to save two young women from drowning

But the weather. does not explain everything. For Aymeric Ung, epidemiologist interviewed by The Parisianthe release of alertness remains a major cause, especially for the youngest. “Among toddlers, the origin of drowning is almost always linked to insufficient surveillance,” he recalls. Adults are not outdone: “They tend to overestimate their physical condition or underestimate the dangers, especially in a natural environment.”

Another problem: low beaches monitoring before July, a period at which the lifeguards come into office.

Read also: Testimonies. “My daughter should never have been in this river”: they attended a drowning in fresh water. they tell

The French swim less well

Beyond individual behavior, the question of learning swimming worries professionals. “The French heat wave, learning swim, shortage swim less well, and their physical condition is often faulty,” Axel Lamotte alert, specialist in aquatic rescue. He also evokes a chronic shortage of lifeguards, estimated at more than 5,000 positions not provided nationally.

Read also: New deadly drowning by a lake: a 45 -year -old man. victim of discomfort, could not be saved

To remedy this problem, associations call on the state to take strong measures to promote swimming learning. In a forum published on Saturday August 2 in the columns of Parisianthe Olympic champions Alain Bernard. Florent Manaudou call, call to develop a “swimming pool plan”.

Read also: National day against drowning: the recommendations of the Sdis du Lot to protect children

In particular. they point to the collapse of infrastructure, the lack of means allocated to communities to renovate and build swimming pools and France’s delay in learning swimming. Indeed. according heat wave, learning swim, shortage to a survey by Dgesco, carried out in the school year 2022-2023 with “410,000 students of 6e“, a third of the students (33.7 %) do not know how to swim by arriving in the sixth grade.

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