site.btaAbout 90% of Drowning Victims in 2023 Were Men Aged Between 55-60, Says National Water Rescue Commission

Lifeguards in Bulgaria prevented more than 5,700 accidents in 2023, Velislav Tsekov, Director of the Water Rescue Service of the Bulgarian Red Cross, told a round table in here on Thursday. 

Nevertheless, according to data from the Interior Ministry, 56 people still drowned at sea in 2023, and almost as many in water basins in the interior of the country, said Associate Professor Stoyan Andonov, National Water Rescue Commission Chair. About 90% of those who died were men with an average age of 55 to 60, he added. Often, the main reasons for incidents are alcohol consumption in addition with overestimating the own abilities and state of health. In general, women are much less inclined to take risks in the water, noted Andonov.

At the round table, the need of regulation that would cover those wishing to work as lifeguards was raised as well. Tsekov pointed out that in recent years the attitude of employers towards lifeguards has undergone a very positive change and they no longer burden them with extraneous tasks. 

Vasil Zagorchev, chair of the new lifeguard union in the country, noted that there is increased interest in the profession and that the reasons for personel shortage are no longer the wages, but the fact that lifeguards are not always provided with the necessary living conditions. He added that the attitude of beachgoers is also affecting the shortage, as oftentimes vacationers do not consider lifeguards at all and even insult them. 

According to the experts, the Interior Ministry has no way to form a beach police, but the law enforcement agencies should respond to signals from lifeguards in such cases and violators should be sanctioned as quickly as possible.