Several people lost their lives in swimming accidents in Germany over the weekend as the country experienced warm summer weather. Others in distress were rescued, including two toddlers.
In the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a 62-year-old man was found lifeless in a lake by a lifeguard and immediately brought to shore, a police spokesman said. Together with a doctor who happened to be present, the lifeguard attempted to resuscitate him. However, these attempts were unsuccessful.
In the city harbour of Rostock in the same state, passers-by found a person floating lifeless in the water at the ferry terminal. Paramedics called to the scene could only recover the body of the woman in a bikini. According to the initial findings, there were no indications of a violent death of the 27-year-old, a spokesman for the water police said.
In Hildesheim in the northern state of Lower Saxony, an 84-year-old man died in an accident while he was operating a remote-controlled model boat on a local lake, the Hohensee. Police said the boat probably became entangled in aquatic plants, causing the man to go into the lake, where he became trapped under water near the boat. Divers retrieved his body 50 minutes later.
Emergency services from the German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) have rescued a 17-year-old girl from the Baltic Sea at Graal Müritz beach, also in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The local girl had gone swimming after sunset with her boyfriend, who lost sight of her shortly afterwards and reported her missing, a spokesman for the rescue service said.
Using a drone with a thermal imaging camera, the young woman was located about 100 meters from the shore. A lifeguard then brought her to shore largely unharmed.
An 85-year-old man has died while swimming in the Middle Franconia region of the southern German state of Bavaria. According to police, the man had a coughing fit on Friday afternoon and then disappeared under water in the quarry pond near the town of Happurg. A 68-year-old man who was with him tried to hold him but was unable to help him.
In the state of Brandenburg, around Berlin, an 84-year-old woman has died while swimming in a lake called the Kuhpanzsee. The woman from Berlin was swimming alone in the lake on Saturday, police reported. Relatives found her floating lifeless in the water after a few minutes. Their attempts to resuscitate her, as well as those of the emergency services called in, were unsuccessful.
A 4-year-old boy was rescued from a pond in Woltersdorf, also in Brandenburg. The child was swimming with several other children at a birthday party on Saturday, police reported on Sunday. The other children saw the 4-year-old floating in the water. The boy was immediately rescued from the water and could be resuscitated.
A girl of about 6 years old sank in Berlin while playing at Lake Tegel and was rescued by a lifeguard. The child was playing in an inflatable ring in the water, the DLRG reported. The DLRG station saw the girl slide through the ring and sink under water.
The lifeguard immediately jumped into the water and pulled her to the surface. “Since she can’t swim, it was a rescue from drowning,” the announcement said. The girl’s father had not been watching her during the life-threatening incident.
