74 drownings in 10 days across France as extreme heatwave drives swimmers to unsafe waters

The toll mounts

Since June 18, when the extreme heatwave began, 74 people have drowned across France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed in an interview with Le Parisien on Saturday June 27. The deaths occurred mainly in unsupervised and unauthorized bodies of water (rivers, ponds, lakes), though some drownings also took place in private pools. Nuñez attributed many deaths to cold-water shock and heart attacks.

There is a phenomenon of cold-water shock, sometimes overexertion... We are seeing many deaths from heart attacks.

Among the victims, the minister said, "many are aged between 15 and 25," while adding that people over 65 are "the most affected" overall among those whose details are known. Earlier in the week, on Thursday June 25, Sports Minister Marina Ferrari had put the toll at 55. The pace far exceeds the summer 2025 baseline, when Santé publique France recorded 409 drowning deaths across the whole season, an average of 24 per week. Libération reports, citing its CheckNews unit, that the victims in recent days are predominantly male (44 of 51 documented cases) and young, aged 11 to 30.

A death in the canal

One of the latest fatalities occurred on Friday evening, June 26, in the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris's 10th arrondissement. A man drowned outside the designated swimming zone and outside opening hours, the Paris police prefecture confirmed. Firefighters were unable to resuscitate him. Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, who had opened the canal for supervised bathing the previous week in response to the exceptional heat, wrote on X that the man was "outside the supervised area and opening hours."

A witness told France Télévisions that a friend jumped into the water after hearing a woman scream that someone was drowning. Multiple bystanders helped pull the unconscious man out before emergency services arrived, but resuscitation efforts failed. Near Lille on Friday evening, a 21-year-old man died after jumping from a bridge into the Deûle. Despite the death and posted bans, swimmers were still jumping into the waterway on Saturday morning, Franceinfo reported. On Lake Annecy, where two people drowned earlier in the week, gendarmes are now patrolling to enforce safety rules, checking for life jackets and watching for signs of cold-water shock.

Government under pressure

Facing criticism from both left and right over the response, Nuñez defended the government's preparation.

All services answered the call... because we were prepared.

He described 336 heatwave-related measures enacted so far, including 64 bans on sports events and 14 bans on cultural events, as the heat forces cancellations such as the Solidays festival in Paris. In the Île-de-France region, emergency interventions are up 122% compared to the same period in 2025, which Nuñez called a "surmortality" situation for Paris and its suburbs. On forest fires, he said he was "worried" about the coming days but insisted services were "mobilised" and "very prepared," claiming the ability to intervene "massively on a fire in barely ten minutes."

Prevention and enforcement

Longer term, the minister conceded that France must "question its air-conditioning equipment and, before that, how public buildings should be constructed." Seine-et-Marne's prefect announced on Friday that he may pursue legal action against websites promoting illegal swimming spots, calling their behaviour "scandalous" and "totally irresponsible."

Swimming is essential, even vital for a number of people, but it can only work if everyone respects the rules, particularly regarding jumping from bridges and sticking to supervised swimming zones.

At Lake Annecy, gendarmes intercept paddleboarders to verify safety gear. One young man told an officer he "didn't know at all" about life jacket requirements, saying he was just visiting and "wanted to have fun with a friend."