Of these, 350 resulted in death. Note that ‘drowning’ in France does not necessarily result in a death, but records someone struggling in a body of water who needed to be rescued.
Although the overall number of drownings and deaths remained stable compared with 2023, a sharp increase was observed during the peak summer period from July 16 to August 15.
During this time, 576 drownings were recorded, representing an increase of 41% over the same period in the previous year.
This rise is linked to successive heatwaves which encouraged more people to swim.
Adults accounted for 56% of drowning incidents and 90% of the deaths. Children under six years old made up 29% of cases but only a small proportion of fatalities.
Approximately half of the fatal drownings occurred in rivers and lakes, while the remainder were mainly at sea. Fatalities in private swimming pools primarily involved children and teenagers.
Geographically, the majority of drownings took place in four regions: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
