A 26-year-old man drowned on Wednesday afternoon in the La Villette basin in Paris. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, reacted and offered her condolences to the young man’s family.
The young man died drowned while swimming in the basin of Villette, in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. Around 15:30, when the temperature exceeded 30 degrees, the young man “took off his shirt and plunged into the pool,” said the Paris Fire Brigade (BSPP). After swimming for a few minutes, he dipped underwater. After a while, not seeing him back up, a witness went to the water to pick him up and brought him back to the dock, inanimate, reported the BSPP. Once there, the firefighters tried in vain to revive him.
The accident occurred near Paris Plages, the operation launched by the Paris City Council, which allows Parisians to bathe in a supervised area of the basin during the summer. Anne Hidalgo, PS Mayor of Paris, reacted on her Twitter account. “Very sad to learn that a man in his thirties has drowned in the Bassin de la Villette today. I extend my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones, “wrote the city councilor.
Second season for the La Villette basin
Reopened to swimming on June 16, the basin of La Villette, the largest artificial lake of Paris, was inaugurated last summer. In 2017, the basin had attracted 60,000 visitors between 17 July and 10 September. Despite some problems encountered last season, such as a very high concentration of bacteria on certain days, the water of the Ourcq canal has been certified “swimmable” by the health authorities for three years.
France recorded 121 drowning deaths between 1 June and 5 July, an average of slightly more than three deaths per day, warned the health agency Public Health France. If the number of deaths is decreasing, the number of drownings has increased compared to 2015.