The danger behind a dive. Because with the summer season, the issue of water safety re-emerges. Whether it’s the sea, lake, river, or swimming pool, it makes no difference. The watchword is attention and safety. Also because recent news reports several cases not to be underestimated. From the child dragged by the water in the lake, to the 44-year-old man who drowned after a dive in the Ravenna area, not forgetting the little girl who drowned in the swimming pool. Dramatic cases that repeat from area to area, with constant frequency.
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600 drownings in the 2024-2025 biennium
In the period from 2024 to 2025, the ISS, the National Institute of Health, recorded over 600 drownings. These tragedies predominantly affected males and were almost equally divided between the sea, especially on free beaches, and inland waters. This data emerges from the annual report of the Observatory for the development of a national strategy for the prevention of drownings and accidents in bathing waters.
A male phenomenon
«The phenomenon is distinctly male: in cases where gender is specified, males are the majority with 482 cases, equal to 80.7% – the observatory highlights -. Approximately 30% of drownings involve people over 65, about 23% children and young people up to 24 years old, while for 3% of cases it was not possible to ascertain the age of the drowned subjects. Most drownings occur in the sea (281) and in inland waters (277), which together represent 93% of cases. A smaller number (37 drownings) but important considering that it mainly involves children and adolescents occurs in swimming pools».
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Medical emergency in water is the main cause
Overall, the main cause (44.9%) is represented by “medical emergency in water”, followed by “falls into water”, and “adverse weather conditions” with rough seas and a return to shore made difficult by strong currents. The statistics compiled by the observatory assign the black jersey (worst performance) to Lombardy (90 cases; 14.9%), the Veneto Region (73; 12.1%), the Tuscany Region (52; 8.6%), the Lazio Region (51; 8.4%), the Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily Regions (41; 6.8%) and the Emilia-Romagna Region (37; 6.1%).
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Yet, according to experts, with some simple rules, the number of these tragedies, «tendentially stable over the last 20 years», could decrease.
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