The macabre balance of drownings has been growing for several years in France. In recent days, two children have died accidentally while falling into swimming pools. At the end of the day Thursday, a two-year-old boy died in Seyssel (Haute-Savoie) while falling in the above-ground swimming pool installed in the garden of his house, reports the Dauphiné. An investigation by the gendarmerie is underway but the thesis of the accident is privileged.
The next day it was after falling into the family pool of a house in Longchamp-sur-Aujon (Aube) that another boy of two and a half years died. Two rescuer neighbors helped him before the firefighters arrived, says L’Est-Eclair. The father of the child, who had discovered his son’s inanimate body in the water, transported him inside the house where the emergency services failed to revive him.
Calls for vigilance
Two deaths which are added to that of a 16 year old teenager this Saturday in the Rhône, after the jump of a bridge, or that of a 17 year old teenager, Thursday near Maisons-Alfort (Val- de-Marne). The young man residing in Paris was having fun jumping from a footbridge spanning the river when he was caught in the eddies caused by the passage of a barge. Rescue called on the spot did not save him.
Tragedies that highlight the increasing number of drownings for several years. The government also launched a plan “Aquatic ease” a year ago to allow children to anticipate learning to swim from kindergarten. More and more drownings are in fact affecting children under the age of six.
