In two different locations in Gelderland, swimmers drowned on Saturday. In Emst, a 16-year-old boy died. In Ochten, a 29-year-old man drowned. In Zoetermeer, a young child had to be resuscitated.
Due to the tropical temperatures, swimming was widespread throughout the country, but in some places, things went wrong.
A 16-year-old boy from Vaassen disappeared underwater while swimming with three others in the Kievitsveld swimming lake in Emst. The others alerted the emergency services, but all help came too late, reports the Gelderland Police. After an hour of searching, the boy was recovered lifeless from the water.
A swimmer also died in Ochten. According to the police, it was a 29-year-old man from Fijnaart. He had gotten into trouble in a gravel pit of the Waal. Help also came too late there.
At the Noord Aa waterway in Zoetermeer, in the province of South Holland, a child was pulled from the water by bystanders. The child had to be resuscitated and was taken to the hospital by a trauma helicopter. The police told press agency ANP that it was “a fairly young” child.
Annually, between seventy and one hundred residents drown in the Netherlands, according to figures from CBS. In 2023, the most recent year for which figures are complete, there were 98. In three-quarters of the cases, it concerns drowning in open water. The number of accidental drownings was highest among those aged 60 and over.