Lakes and rivers: the case of Lombardy – 30 per cent of all drowning deaths occur in the region (half of whom are foreign nationals)
Between 2024 and 2025, a total of 277 drownings were recorded in inland waters
Key points
Mattheus Gosseling had jumped from the boat he had hired with his three children to help his eldest, aged 16, who was in difficulty in the water. The boy survived, but he did not. The tragedy, which took place at the weekend on Lake Como in Menaggio – one of the area’s most popular tourist destinations, frequented mainly by visitors from the United States, but also from Germany and the Netherlands – is the latest in a series of fatal accidents that have occurred against the backdrop of Lombardy.
The critical situation in Lombardy
Around 30 per cent of drownings in inland waters (rivers and lakes) occur in this region, which is characterised by a ‘particularly critical’ situation, as highlighted in the 2026 report by the Observatory for the Development of a National Strategy for the Prevention of Drowning and Accidents in Bathing Waters.
The figures
The survey carried out by the National Institute of Health in the two-year period 2024–2025 in inland waters recorded a total of 277 drownings, of which 149 occurred in rivers and streams (53.8%), 89 in lakes (32.1 per cent) and 38 in canals (13.7 per cent). “Essentially the same number of drownings occur in inland waters as are recorded along the coast, despite the number of people using these waters being significantly lower.”
Foreigners unaware of the dangers of rivers and lakes
As in the rest of the regions, half of all drowning incidents in Lombardy’s inland waters involve foreign nationals (40.6 per cent immigrants and 9 per cent tourists), who are ‘unaware of the dangers of these environments’. For this reason, one of the recommendations is to ‘involve immigrant communities in the development of awareness-raising campaigns’.
An underestimated problem
The report emphasises that safety when bathing in inland waters “is generally underestimated compared with coastal areas and swimming pools”. Inland waters “are widely used for recreation and leisure in many places, particularly those far from the coast. It is highly likely that the number of people using inland waters will increase in the future, given the climate change and rising temperatures’.
