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Five dead in 'black Friday' drownings

The Local Sweden
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Five dead in 'black Friday' drownings
A life ring pictured in Stockholm. Maja Suslin/TT

Five people died in drowning related incidents on Friday, further raising the death toll of those lost in the water in July.

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A 31-year-old man drowned after a bathing accident in Lund, southern Sweden. In northern Sweden a 60-year-old died after going out swimming in the sea in Sundsvall while a 68-year old woman also died in a bathing area in central Sweden.

On Friday night a man in his late 20s was found unconscious in Ängelholm, southern Sweden, after being discovered by friends in the water. He was rushed to hospital in Helsingborg where he was pronounced dead.

In Motala, central Sweden, a man was rushed to hospital after being under the water for at least 10 minutes. He later died in hospital.

Meanwhile, a search party has been sent out to find a missing 20-year-old man who went swimming in a lake in Nässjö, southern Sweden.

The Swedish Life Saving Association (Svenska livräddningssällskapet) said that approximately one person a day has died in a drowning accident in July.

"When the weather is nice many people seek out the water and expose themselves to the risk of the water. And the more pleasant the weather the more inexperienced swimmers seek out the water," Anders Wernesten of the association told the TT news agency.

Earlier in July The Local reported that the June drowning figures were the highest in Sweden for more than a decade. A total of 21 people drowned in June with the figure for July likely to exceed that.

"There are still a few days left and we have a weekend ahead of us which means that more people will go out," added Wernesten.

The worst July month for deaths by drowning occurred in 2006 when 47 people died out on the water. On average 21 people drown every July in the period from 2000 to present.

Wernesten told The Local earlier in July that one of the reasons is that many swimmers reckon they can cope with the conditions. In the vast majority of cases they are victims are men.

"One of the main problems is that a lot of men think they are made of steel and won't get into trouble in the water. Nine out of ten victims are male, which is a very high figure," he said.

In 2013 a total of 129 died in the water 

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