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In periods of high heat, many French people cool off in water points, and drownings increase. Tuesday, August 9, in the pond of Berre, a five-year-old girl died, carried away by the current. A high-risk summer?
Swimming pool, beach or lake: when bathing, vigilance is more than ever the order of the day. “We accompany them all the time, we are always on the alert”testifies a mother, in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). “Always vigilant”, notes for his part a father. Tuesday, August 9, two girls were trapped while swimming in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and one of them died. In 2021, 1,480 drownings were recorded, including 400 fatalities. In 2022, the results are already worrying, and children are often concerned.
“Very often, in small children, drowning will be quite silent. The child will be able to fall into the water, lack oxygen, lose consciousness, even putting water in his lungs”, comments Michael Afanetti, resuscitator and head of service at the Lenval Foundation. To avoid tragedies, aquatic ease courses are multiplying, such as in Colomiers (Haute-Garonne). They make it possible to learn the first gestures, in particular “to pass from vertical to horizontal position”says Mohamed Boutahard, deputy director of the Colomiers aquatic area.