"We are facing an exceptionally bad year," admit sources from Catalan Civil Protection regarding mortality on Catalan beaches. This beginning of 2025 has seen the highest number of drownings in the last decade, with 25 fatalities on the Catalan coast as of Thursday, four more than last year and almost double the number recorded ten years ago in the same period. The latest victims are two children, aged 11 and 13, who drowned Tuesday night while swimming at Larga beach in Salou, Tarragonès. The children were British brothers, and their father, who also entered the water to rescue them, was rescued by the Emergency Services.

Seven people have drowned on Catalan beaches since the summer season began on June 15. That's seven deaths in two weeks, an average of one every two days. "It's not the worst figure in history, but it is one of the worst," Sergio Delgado, deputy director of Civil Protection programs for the Catalan government, told ARA. A year ago, five deaths were recorded in June, and the summer season (which ends on September 15) It ended with 17 fatalities at sea. We are, therefore, above the records of the previous year, and Delgado links this directly to the high temperatures, which cause people to go to the coast more.