Seven people drowned in January

Rescue Boat, stolen watercraft Sørfjorden Kristiansand drowning accidents drowned noticesRescue Boat. Photo: Redninsselskapet

 Seven people drowned in January in Norway

Seven people drowned in the first month of the year, reports statistics from the Norwegian Rescue Association (Redningsselskapet) . Last year, four people died in January.

 

Six of the drowned are men. There is no information about the gender or age of the seventh person. Two of the drownings occurred in Nordland, while there was a drowning in each of the counties Trøndelag, Hordaland, Vest-Agder, Buskerud and Østfold. Two of the dead were men in their twenties, while four were men in the age group between 50 and 75 years old.

– First and foremost, it is regrettable that the statistics have doubled from the same period last year. This winter has been characterized by a lot of ice and cold weather. Snow on top of the ice can quickly become a death trap.

– This means that we need to pay extra attention when being close to water, says Communications Manager in the Rescue Association, Frode Pedersen.

Be careful on the ice

We are now in a season with a lot of activity among fishers on the ice and ski tourists across the whole country.

– The changing weather conditions between warm and cold and precipitation often give very unpredicatable conditions where we have to cross ice covered lakes or sitting down with the fishing rod, says Pedersen, who encourages people to check the ice conditions and not to take chances.

In 2017, 94 people drowned in Norway.

See detailed statistics for county, gender, age and cause here:

About RSS (Wikipedia)

The Norwegian Rescue Association (RSS), originally Norwegian Society for the Rescue of the Shipwrecked, was founded by Kristiania Kjøbmandsforening on July 9, 1891. The purpose is to save lives, values and carry out preventive efforts to improve safety for those who travel the seas.

The Association is a voluntary humanitarian organization and is based on membership fees, donations, operational income, and a Government contribution by the Ministry of Transport of NOK 83.5 million (covering about 15% of total operating expenses)

RSS helps around 15,000 people every year, and in 2016 the crew on the rescue boats saved 45 lives in Norway. At sea, RSS is the primary resource for search and rescue, and the company’s rescue boats alone represent 76% of all HRS missions at sea (assignments channeled through the two main centers in Bodø and Sola), while the remaining 24% are solved by resources from the police, fire services, coast guard and ambulance services.

In total, the RSS carried out 7529 missions during 2016. There are large geographical variations in the missions. The missions in the south are dominated by recreational craft, while in the north most tasks are related to utility and passenger ships.

The rescue company publishes one of Norway’s largest professional magazines, the RS magazine, with a circulation of 178,000 quarterly.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today.