Spain 2022: More than 100 drownings so far

The Real Federación Española de Salvamento y Socorrismo (Royal Spanish Lifesaving and Rescue Federation) have confirmed that in 2021 this figure was not exceeded until 6 July last year.

These data corroborate the upward trend in deaths by unintentional drowning that the INA highlighted last May, which was the most mournful since 2016, with thirty people losing their lives in Spanish aquatic spaces during the month.

May 2022 had more than double the number of drowning deaths than those who died from drowning in the same month of 2021, which were fourteen.

The nineteen deaths recorded during the first twelve days of June represent a daily average of 1.58 drowning fatalities in aquatic areas in that period, compared to 0.55 between 1 January and 30 May, when 83 deaths were recorded.

The director of Prevention and Safety and spokesman for the Royal Spanish Federation of Rescue and Lifesaving, Francisco Cano, pointed out that last Friday there were six deaths in aquatic areas and that between Friday and Saturday nine people died.

For Francisco Cano, this is a figure that “should lead to reflection on the responsibility of each person and also in relation to the ineffectiveness of requiring demanding training in some Autonomous Communities that cannot be fulfilled and which prevents many beaches from having lifeguards”.

At the same time, he pointed out that “in other territories, it is possible to become a lifeguard without even proving that one knows how to swim, as online training and certifications of very dubious quality are accepted”.

“Public institutions must assume that there is a lack of lifeguards and that training is inadequate in many cases and, where it is, the administration does not exercise its supervisory role to ensure that it is provided with the necessary quality,” stressed Francisco Cano.