Heat increases the risk of drowning. This Saturday around 17:30 p.m., a 7-year-old child was found drowned in a private pool in Pont-de-Chéruy (Isère), says France Bleu Isère. According to Le Dauphiné, the boy was staying with his family in a home for asylum seekers when he escaped the vigilance of adults. An investigation was opened by the gendarmerie to establish the circumstances of this tragedy.
In Gironde, a 3-year-old child is in serious condition after being found unconscious at the bottom of his parents' pool in Latresne, says France Bleu Gironde. He was transported to the Pellegrin Hospital in Bordeaux. According to Sud Ouest, the child escaped the supervision of his parents for a few minutes, before his father discovered him in the water.
The firefighters of Isère also intervened to find the body of a man drowned in the waters of the Rhône, at the leisure base of Condrieu around 17:30 pm according to Le Progrès. A few hours earlier, a 15-year-old boy drowned after being reported missing at Irigny (Rhône). Thirty firefighters intervened to find the victim and try to resuscitate him.
"It can go very fast"
According to the France Public Health survey published in 2021, children under the age of 6 account for more than 1 in 5 accidental drownings. Nearly 1,500 accidental drownings, including nearly 400 fatalities, occurred in France in the summer of 2021.
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"Everyone is concerned by a risk of drowning, even a person in good physical condition," said Aymeric Ung, an expert in Public Health France, who recalled the absolute rule of uninterrupted monitoring of the child: "Even when there is a group around, it is necessary to clearly designate the adult in charge of the watch. "
Children can drown in less than a minute in 20 to 30 cm of liquid. "Underwater, they lose their reflexes, do not struggle, it can go very quickly," warned Vincent Bounes, emergency doctor and director of the Samu de Haute-Garonne.