Zug,26.01.2015

Deaths in Swiss waters down by almost half

According to the latest figures from the Swiss Life Saving Association (SLRG), the number of deaths by drowning in the country fell from 52 in 2013 to 27 in 2014, thanks in part to the worse summer weather of last year.
 
"The worse the weather, the fewer the people who take to the waters," said Philipp Binaghi, the head of communication and marketing of the SLRG, as he explained the encouraging fall in deaths by drowning in the country. As it happened, four people died through drowning in the canton of Zug last year, and the same number lost their lives in this way in the canton of Bern, too, both canton thereby recording the highest number of deaths by drowning in the country. By comparison, only one person died through drowning in the canton of Zug in 2013.
 
Binaghi went on to explain that, of the 27 deaths by drowning in 2014, 22 were men, two were women and three were children. In all, 13 people died in rivers, 13 in lakes and one in a lido, making open natural waters the most dangerous places when it comes to drowning.
 
Those most at risk for drowning are men between the ages of 16 and 35."Incidents may often start as a dare," said Binaghi. "For example last year there were incidents relating to young men who jumped into the River Limmat from the harbour crane in Zurich (now dismantled) or from houses into the River Limmat.  Not that it is just men who do this sort of thing; last year two women from Zug sustained leg injuries as they jumped into the River Lorze linked to a bet on Facebook."
 
Not unsurprisingly alcohol and drugs also play a role in these incidents, especially when parties are held near waters. Of the people over 45 who die by drowning, the initial cause is likely to be a fall. In the case of children, the main cause is lack of supervision by adults. Capsizing boats is another reason why younger people may drown. "As for accidents while bathing, we have discovered that 90% of them could have been avoided if six basic rules had been adhered to," added Binaghi.
 
Commenting on the four incidents of drowning in Zug, police spokesman Marcel Schlatter said that these were four tragic cases, one of which was suicide. He pointed out that no fatal accidents in the canton had been caused by bathing or participating in water-sports and he thought this should be mentioned to put the cantonal drowning statistics into perspective.