Record number of drowning incidents in the first week of July

NINETEEN people have drowned in just 10 days since the start of July in swimming pools, rivers or the sea, half of these being children.

Four children lost their lives over the course of one weekend and two fishermen in their 30s plus a bather aged 80 drowned in rivers in Galicia in three separate incidents.

A four-year-old boy lost his life in a public outdoor swimming pool in Borja (Zaragoza) on Saturday and a two-year-old boy drowned in the pool at his home in Campotéjar Alto, near Molina de Segura (Murcia) the following evening.

And the body of a 12-year-old boy was pulled out of the river Daró in La Bisbal d'Empordà (Girona) over the same weekend.

A boy of eight drowned in the public pool in Ortuella (Vizcaya province, in the Basque Country) on Friday.

During the same weekend, a 69-year-old woman drowned in the sea in the province of Tarragona and a 73-year-old man drowned off the beach in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz province).

Emergency services say July has been the most tragic month of the year so far for deaths by drowning, and urge bathers to take extra care, avoiding rivers or beaches with no lifeguards, and keeping a close eye on children and the elderly.