FIGURES released by the 061 Emergency Services in Andalucia show that from January to 8 September of this year a total of 27 requests have been made to emergency services related to drowning in Almeria.
Of 160 requests made about water-related incidents throughout Andalusia, 70 required the intervention of the health emergency teams, including Malaga (28) and Cádiz (14) which accounted for 60 percent of attendance.
The figures also revealed that over the last five years, the emergency services in Andalucia handled 1,178 calls of this type, although most were usually dealt with by first responders at the scene such as lifeguards and the police. 42 percent, or 504 cases, required the presence of the emergency teams.
In total, the data reveals that emergency centres in Andalucia manage an average of 235 drowning assistance requests per year, with the majority of this number being in the summer months between 2012 and 2016.
Most worryingly, statistics also show that accidents among children at swimming pools form a significant number of the number of calls for assistance. Conversely, for adults, it’s been noted that they occur mostly at beaches and are usually the result of not observing signage about the sea.
