- More than 1 in 4 patients (28.7%) who visited the emergency room due to non-fatal drowning died. Particularly, the fatality rate was 51.7% among those aged 70 and older.
- Analysis of non-fatal drowning trends over the past five years (2020 – 2024) shows that accidents usually occur during summer season, outdoors, and in the afternoon.
- Meeting the World Drowning Prevention Day on July 25 every year, the campaign ‘Anyone can drown, No one should’ is currently underway, urging to follow safety guidelines to prevent non-fatal drowning accidents.
Osong, 5 August 2025 ━ The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) urged to take extra care of non-fatal drowning (near-drowning), which frequently occur during summer vacation and holiday season. In light of this, KDCA analyzed the risk factors and vulnerable groups of non-fatal drowning and distributed leaflets and card news about safety guidelines, first-aid tips, and checklists.
An analysis of data from hospitals participating in the Emergency Department Based Injury In-depth Surveillance (EDIIS) from 2020 to 2024 showed a total of 523 patients visited emergency room due to non-fatal drowning incidents. Among them, 385 were male (73.6%), around 2.8 times more than the figure of female (138, 26.4%).
By age group, children aged 9 years and under accounted the largest proportion of non-fatal drowning accidents with 150 cases (29.6%), followed by seniors aged 70 and above with 74 cases (51.7%). In particular, with the aging trend, the risk of accident among seniors has increased.
Non-fatal accidents are generally common during summer (36.9%), particularly on weekends (Saturday: 20.%, Sunday: 18.5%), and among weekdays, Friday had the highest number of non-fatal drowning with 15.3%. The time that had the most frequent accidents was 12:00 to 18:00 with 38.4%, followed by 18:00 to 24:00 with 33.3%.
Based on these findings, KDCA has distributed leaflets containing safety guidelines, first-aid tips and checklists.
The leaflet contains reminders for both before and during water activities, as well as first-aid tips when getting injured. It emphasizes the importance of checking whether there are lifeguards or safety personnel, following the instructions, doing warm-up exercises before going into water, and wearing life jackets. The first-aid tips are divided into sub-categories by situations, such as skin wound, head injury, body injury, and jellyfish stings.
Additionally, checklists are provided for people to use on-site during water activities, and separate checklists for facility managers are provided to promote safter environment for water activities. The leaflet is available on KDCA Injury Information Portal and the KDCA website.
KDCA Commissioner Dr. Seung-kwan Lim stated, “Although non-fatal drowning patients accounted for only 0.1% of all injury-related patients visiting emergency room annually, the fatality rate is high at 28.7%, which is alarming. Therefore, following safety guidelines is important.”
He emphasized, “Especially, children and seniors—groups with highest risk and fatality rate of non-fatal drowning—need extra care. Also, one should avoid water activities after drinking alcohol or taking medicine.”
Also, he added, “July 25 is World Drowning Prevention Day, declared by the UN General Assembly, and this year’s theme of campaign is ‘Anyone can drown, No one should.’ KDCA will contribute to promoting healthy people and safer society in line with international efforts to prevent injury.”
Water Activity First-Aid Guideline & Checklist