Several Die In Swimming Accidents As Heatwave Grips Germany

BERLIN, June 28 (NNN-dpa) -- At least five people have died in swimming accidents in Germany since Friday, police said, as a heatwave sent many people to lakes and rivers to cool off, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

Police said a 27-year-old man drowned in the Neckar River near the southwestern city of Heidelberg on Saturday, while a 30-year-old man died in a lake near Mannheim. A child was also reported missing in the Rhine-Herne Canal in western Germany.

In the central state of Hesse, the body of a 40-year-old man was recovered from a lake near Frankfurt.

On Friday, a 45-year-old man died after being pulled from the water at a lake near Dortmund, while an 8-year-old boy was found dead after a search at a lake near Hanover.

The bodies of two elderly swimmers had also been recovered from Lake Constance, on Germany's border with Switzerland and Austria, on Friday after they jumped into the water from a rental boat the previous day and disappeared.

Germany has been gripped by extreme heat for several days, with temperatures reaching or exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in many places.

--NNN-dpa