Four bathers died this weekend after drowning on the beaches of Catalonia. Three died on Saturday, and another yesterday. Yellow flags were waving on the sand, forcing extreme caution. In addition, a fifth person, a minor, was also seriously injured by drowning with a red sign prohibiting swimming. Since the summer campaign began, which started on June 15 and will conclude on September 15, there have been ten such deaths on the Catalan coast.
What has happened has put Civil Protection on alert, which has called for extreme caution. “It’s not usual to have such a high number of deaths in such a short time”, acknowledged yesterday Imma Solé, Deputy General Director of Coordination and Management of Emergencies. “We hope it will be a one-time thing – he continued – but that’s why it’s important to be very careful”. He recalled that “with a red flag you cannot enter the water, but with a yellow flag it is not enough with a generic prudence, you need to do a little more; for example, make sure your feet touch the ground or be close to the edge… If you want to swim to the buoy, it’s better to leave it for another day”. And, he stressed, “if someone is unwell they should not bathe”.
Pending full details of this weekend’s deaths, early estimates don’t seem to fit the most common pattern. “What is common is that these incidents happen in normal swimming conditions, with a green flag, and that the victims are people aged 65 and 75 years and older who go into the water with an excess of confidence”, detailed Solé . “But – he pointed out – many usually have some pathology and, once in the sea, if they suffer a problem, it can be fatal”. Thus, he pointed out, “death may not be by drowning, but by other causes”.
In the cases of these two days, the victims were between 32 and 65 years old and they bathed in moments of strong waves of intense heat that encouraged them to get wet. “If the crowds on the beaches are very high, there is a greater risk that something will happen, so we will not tire of asking for caution”, insisted Solé. Minors are also concerned. Eleven have been seriously injured by drowning in swimming pools since the season began. “There are many services, from the rescuers to the EMS, which avoid worse consequences”, recalls the deputy director of Emergencies, who calls for “active surveillance of the creatures by adults; not at a distance, but to be next to it, and when necessary, reach out and take them out”.
The first fatal drowning was on Saturday at Salatar beach in Roses (Alt Empordà). Emergèncias received the warning at 12:30 p.m. from some witnesses and the same first aid service. It was a 55-year-old man who was rescued from the water unconscious. The first cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers practiced by the rescuer were unsuccessful. EMS was also unable to revive him.
Another notice, at 4.12 p.m., warned that a man had been pulled out of the water in the same condition at El Miracle beach in Tarragona, but he could not be revived. The deceased, of Indian nationality, was 32 years old. Another man, a 60-year-old Cuban, drowned on La Rovina beach in Castelló d’Empúries (Alt Empordà). The warning was also given by the rescuers at 18.46 hours. It also could not be recovered.
A 13-year-old girl was pulled from the sea in Empuriabrava, in the same region of Alt Empordà, at 4.43pm with severe drowning. A red flag was flying. The EMS took her by helicopter to the Josep Trueta hospital in Girona.
Finally, yesterday, at 1:30 p.m., a new warning was received from Estartit beach (Baix Empordà) that lifeguards had pulled an unconscious 65-year-old man from the water. History repeated itself. Neither the latter nor the EMS managed to revive him. It was the fourth death of the weekend.
