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May recorded the highest number of deaths by drowning in six years and the toll has since risen to 107 so far this year in Spain, with seven recorded in the last 24 hours as temperatures soar and bathers hit the beach and swimming pools.

 

The figure for June has already reached 23 and the toll for 2022 – in just six months – is up 41 on the same period in 2021.

 

According to the Royal Federation of Rescue and Lifesaving, which produces a national report on drownings every month, the start of June "consolidated" the upward trend in deaths by unintentional drowning that was detected in May, "the most since 2016, with 30 victims, more than double that of the same month a year ago when there were 14".

 

Seven of the tragic fatalities occurred last weekend, including that of a 35-year-old foreign man who drowned on Sunday June 12 at a private a swimming pool in the Ibizan municipality of Santa Eulària, according to SAMU 061.

 

On Saturday night a 23-year-old man drowned after diving into the Navacerrada reservoir in Madrid, and hours earlier, a 39-year-old man perished in the river Tajo in Zorita de los Canes, Guadalajara.

 

A woman, 64, drowned on the Poio beach of Lourido, Pontevedra, and paramedics were unable to save an 82-year-old man who was pulled unconscious from the sea at Poniente beach in Benidorm.

 

Also read: Expert tips for staying cools in extreme heat as temperatures soar

 

Three other bathers lost their lives on the Balearic Islands on Friday June 10: two in Cala Agulla and Playa de Muro in Mallorca, and a third man, a 69-year-old tourist, who drowned on the Menorcan beach of Racó den Paupa in Sant Lluis.

 

Thankfully, tragedy was averted when a British tourist, 65, was saved from dorwning after she was pulled from the water at Tamarells Beachin the Mallorca hotspot of Puerto de Pollensa last Thursday June 9.

 

Federation data shows that the 23 deaths recorded during the first 12 days of June represent a daily average of 1.58 fatal drownings in aquatic areas, compared to 0.55 between January 1 and May 30, when 83 deaths were recorded.

 

"Public institutions must assume that there is a lack of lifeguards and that training is inadequate in many cases, and (the data) demonstrates that the Administration must exercise its supervisory role," warned Francisco Cano, the Federation's director of Prevention and Safety, who has called for a State Aquatic Safety Strategy to be drawn up.

 

Now read: Weather experts predict more intense and frequent droughts for the rest of the century

 

Image: Archive