Firefighters are marking the launch of this year's national Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Week with a stark warning to joggers and dog walkers, just days after a man died in the River Thames.
The circumstances surrounding the man’s death have not yet been revealed by police.
Fire and rescue services across the UK, including Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, have joined a call by UK fire chiefs to raise awareness of the dangers of everyday activities near water after statistics show that nearly half of people who accidentally drown in the UK never intended to enter the water.
The latest figures show that in 2015, 321 people died after tripping, falling or underestimating the risks associated with being near water.
This year's national Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Week started yesterday (April 24).
Dawn Whittaker from the Chief Fire Officers' Association said: "Most people would be shocked to hear that those people drowning just happen to be near water such as runners, walkers and people who are fishing. They are unaware of the risks and are totally unprepared for the scenario of ending up in the water.
"By highlighting this issue and making sure simple safety messages reach them we hope to reduce the number of these needless deaths.
"Fire and rescue services have successfully reduced the number of fire deaths by focusing on prevention work and now we must apply the same principle to tackling drowning. Response is not enough - we must prevent drownings."
There were 669 water-related fatalities in Great Britain in 2013 – two-and-a-half times the number of people who died in house fires that year.
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