How many people drown in Amsterdam’s canals?
A few years ago, it was reported that between 2009 and 2011, 51 people drowned in the canals of Amsterdam.1
Local daily De Telegraaf noted that only one of those casualties occurred as the result of a crime.
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The other 50 drownings were ruled accidents. The vast majority of them involved men, and according to the newspaper ostensibly ‘most of them were drunk’ when they fell in while relieving themselves.
The most recent person to drown in an Amsterdam canal was British tourist Richard Cole (30).
His body was recovered from Herengracht on February 1, 2016. The circumstances surrounding his death have not yet been determined. 2
Once someone has fallen into the water it is difficult to get out — even if the unlucky person is not inebriated.
Most quays are quite high, and there are not many ladders or jetties. In addition, many canals are free of house boats, sloops and dinghies that someone would be able to hold or climb onto.
In the past there used to be life saving equipment — such as swimming hooks, lifelines and lifebuoys — attached to bridges, but vandalism and theft made an end to that.
Members of the Socialist Party, SP, have been calling for the installation of lifelines and ladders along the canals.
Statistics: Drowning deaths in Amsterdam
Many people drown in Amsterdam
‘Assassin,’ Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool headlines (February 6, 2016) 3
“Why do we not warn tourists of the dangers of the canal?” Amsterdam daily Het Parool asks, in an article headlined ‘Sluipmoordenaar’ – Assassin.
But how many people — both locals and tourists — actually drown in Amsterdam’s canals?
In 2015 Tobias van Dijk, a researcher with the Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD), studied drowning incidents in the city.
The law: peeing in public is illegal, and can result in a €130,00 fine.
He reports that each year more than 30 people drown in Amsterdam’s open water (including canals, lakes, rivers, ditches, swimming pools, and garden ponds).
About ¼ (7.5 if you take 30 as an average) — say, seven or eight — drown in a canal.
But on average ‘only’ 3 people a year are presumed to have drowned while peeing into a canal. That conclusion is usually based on the state of the victim’s clothes (e.g. open zipper or pants undone).4
Van Dijk notes that forensic research into the actual circumstances surrounding a drowning is complicated.
Note: various media outlets recently reported that, according to figures provided by the police, ‘some 15 bodies a year’ are found in the canals.
However, the Parool article mentioned above says
Every year police finds about ten ‘water cadavers’ in the canals.
Police usually do not have to take long to determine the cause. The drowning victims are sometimes found with their fly still undone.
“People who pee into the canals usually are not Amsterdam locals.”
Police spokesman Rob van der Veen is well-informed regarding the drowning cases. “Often the victims are intoxicated when they leave the warm pub and get out into the cold. When you then go and pee, your blood pressure drops, making you dizzy. That can easily result in a fall.”
– Source: Maarten van Dun, Waarom waarschuwt niemand? (Why does no one warn?), Het Parool, February 6, 2016
So we’ve got three different numbers when it comes to how many people a year drown in Amsterdam’s canals:
7 or 8 (GGD)
‘some 15’ (news media citing numbers ‘provided by the police’)
‘about 10′ (Het Parool, citing a police spokesman)
There may not be that much difference between these statistics, but each drowning death is one too many.
’10’ is probably the most reliable number, given that Van Dijk’s numbers are based on a percentage of ‘more than 30 people’ who drown in all of Amsterdam’s open water.
By the way, online forums — such as the ones provided by TripAdvisor — often perpetuate incorrect information. In what essentially is an game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ facts and other details of a news story often get changed or embellished. The only