The impact of heatwaves is intensifying: in the summer of 2025 in France, 409 people died by drowning, including around twenty teenagers. Many of these young people drowned at the end of June in rivers or unsupervised bodies of water, during an early heatwave.
“ While the summer of 2026 will likely be marked by periods of intense heat, it is crucial to highlight the increased risks associated with swimming in these weather conditions." Yann Le Strat said, scientific director of Public Health France, during a press conference.
Thus for " to address the new challenges of climate change and take these into account Increasingly favorable weather conditions "which lengthen the period conducive to swimming and therefore to drownings, the agency now starts its surveillance on May 1st," he announced.
Its drowning reports will also be more frequent: on July 11, before August 15 and September 31.
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57 children and adolescents affected
From June 1st to September 30th, 2025, 1,418 drownings were recorded nationwide, 409 of which resulted in death, including 57 children and adolescents, according to the annual report from Public Health France (SpF). Drownings and deaths thus represent an increase of 141 per three-year period (TP3T) and 161 per three-year period (TP3T), respectively, compared to the summer of 2024.
This increase in fatal drownings last summer affected " mostly "Adolescents, because 21 young people aged 13 to 17 lost their lives between June and September, compared to 10 in 2024," the health agency pointed out. The proportion of adults who are victims of drowning –mainly at sea– followed by deaths remained generally stable on its side.
Summer 2025 was scorching: it ranks as the third hottest summer since 1900, behind those of 2003 and 2022, according to Météo France, and June was the second hottest.
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"Active surveillance" children
Temperatures exceeded 35 degrees across a large part of the territory between June 19 and July 8, early and prolonged heat wave" SpF pointed out, even before the red heatwave alert was triggered, from July 1st to 3rd, in sixteen departments.
In just under three weeks, 355 drownings were recorded in the country, a jump of 1351 TPP compared to the same period in 2024. Of this total, there were 106 fatal drownings, an increase of 1721 TPP over a year.
At that time, "It was extremely hot across a large part of France, even though the school holidays hadn't started," and "most natural swimming areas were closed." "were not being monitored," stressed Aymeric Ung, project manager at SpF.
“ This partly explains the very significant toll. "Drownings," he added.
Nearly six out of ten miners who drowned had gone swimming in a stream, river, or body of water, lake or pond, compared to two out of ten in a private family swimming pool.
However, during swimming " wild animals in their natural environment" , " There are currents, differences in depth and temperature, lots of things that can happen and lead to drownings."And the remoteness of these places," explained Mr. Le Strat. "delays the arrival of emergency services."
The health agency has reiterated its advice to be cautious: do not consume alcohol, check the weather conditions, postpone swimming if you are tired, and swim in designated and supervised areas.
It is also appropriate to " to implement active and permanent monitoring "Children, who need to learn to swim" as soon as possible“,” said Agnès Verrier, a prevention expert at SpF
“ We swim with them", she specified, " And when they play by the water, we don't take our eyes off them, we don't read, we don't look at our phones.“.
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