It would not be wrong to remember the risks of water at this time when we are completely submerged in the summer of 2024. In general, we all remember wonderful moments in aquatic areas, but periodically, some tragic news moves us in the headlines of the media. To think that drowning occurs only in areas of high seas or depths is an erroneous prejudice, whether in rivers, pools or reservoirs, among other things, can reach us misfortune. It only takes a few seconds to go to the bottom, so surveillance is essential, especially when the responsibility of children or adolescents is in our hands. The data from the statistics of 2023 are chilling, with 422 deaths throughout the Spanish state, nineteen of them in Hego Euskal Herria. Please, let us escape the black list, because human beings are not aquatic beings. So, always alert!

Data source: National drowning report. Spanish Federation of Rescue and Relief.

Mikel González De Reparaz, firefighter