Deaths from drowning in Spain this year 2022 already exceed all of last year. 264 people have drowned since January 1, according to the Spanish Lifeguards and Lifeguards Federation (Rfess), compared to 260 in 2021. But last summer was still marred by restrictions. Experts cite the end of restrictions, rising temperatures and lack of hydroponic culture as factors explaining the current mortality figures. In any case, the records for this year 2022 are similar to those of the summer before the pandemic.
Four deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours: one in Tenerife and three in Salou, where lifeguards rescued two men aged 60 and 46 and the latter’s son, a minor under 15. The young man was admitted Thursday in critical condition to the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona, where he died early Friday. The rise in drownings worries Rfess President Francisco Cano, who believes annual records could surpass 400 victims again in 2022, as they did in 2019. “These numbers must be reduced as they are,” demands.
According to experts, the end of restrictions has already heralded a summer of greater risk on Spanish beaches and swimming pools. Increased mobility and the massive arrival of tourists have put a strain on activities in coastal waters, but Cano points to the heat as a catalyst for accidents. “We didn’t expect these high temperatures and an earlier beginning of summer,” he analyses. And to brave the heat, the easiest way is to go into the water. “The problem is that prevention policies have not changed and that in many communities the bathing season is still from June 15 to September 15, when needs are different.”
Ramses Martí, a specialist in aquatic safety, denounces the lack of logistics on the beaches and the precarious working conditions of the lifeguards. “We monitor with the same professionals and with almost the same infrastructure as 20 years ago. The guards have to be 200 meters apart to narrow the observation area, and that doesn’t happen,” he stresses. According to the specialist, to ensure the safety of bathers, lifeguards have to visually search their entire surveillance area in 10 seconds, and he understands that the current position of professionals on the beaches does not correspond. “Professionals have to be a maximum of three minutes away to help someone, and that’s a lot,” he points out. From their watchtower, they analyze the “behavioural patterns” in the water that indicate a risk to act and prevent, explains Martí.
But mortality is not explained solely by the precarity of workers. The responsibility of bathers also influences a lot, experts say. The Rfess data shows that a third of deaths are over the age of 65, a trend that has been repeated in recent years. “These are people who often have health problems and fall at the sea,” reflects Martí, who calls for greater awareness of one’s own limits. The aquatic safety expert calls for ambulances to be “biased” and with public campaigns so that multipathological or vulnerable users “do not go to the beach alone” or do so within hours with the active rescue service.
The Mar Menor in Murcia illustrates the danger of water to vulnerable groups, according to Cano. It is a lagoon that “poses little danger”, on the other hand, the proportion of victims is “higher because there are more older tourists, some of whom do not do physical activity all year round or control their diet less”.
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In any case, the perception of danger and respect for the water are mentioned as special behavioral factors during the bath. “We usually have a false sense of security and think the situation is under control,” warns Cano, who compares the data on the beaches of northern Spain (seven between Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country last July) with those of the Mediterranean (37 between Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Murcia and the Balearic Islands). “There are far fewer people in the Atlantic or the Cantabrian Sea, but you can already see bigger waves and not expose yourself like in the Mediterranean, which seems safer. In the end, we must remember that the sea and the water are always stronger than us.”
Count without official data
The Spanish Rescue and First Aid Federation (Rfess) conducts a monthly national drowning report counting the number of deaths recorded on beaches and swimming pools across Spain. The document has become a barometer of the situation on the Spanish coast, but the figures are not official. “It takes the National Institute of Statistics a year to publish the registry of drowning deaths, and it’s not intended to illustrate the dangers of aquatic activities,” laments Francisco Cano, president of RFESS.
The company conducts extensive documentation work through the media to account for every death on a day-to-day basis, but its officials are aware that the data may be inaccurate. “There are fluctuations in the numbers and a case can be lost,” admits Cano. For this reason, the 264 numbers recorded are presented as minimum figures. “But the most important thing is to make the population aware when things are not going well,” concludes the Federal President.
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