By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter) with files from The Canadian Red Cross and Radio News Service

Startling Drowning Figures from Red Cross

Jun 10, 2016 | 4:25 PM

LETHBRIDGE: Earlier this week the Lethbridge Fire department issued words of caution for those who float down the Old Man River. Some of the key words included life jackets.

As summer holidays are not far off, the Red Cross has come out with eye opening figures on the number of drownings and the fact that most can be prevented.

 A Red Cross study, which includes data from the past two decades, show more than 10,000 people died as a result of drowning, a-third of them in boating accidents.

There are over 500 water-related deaths in Canada every year and  93% of all boat-related drowning victims are men. 

In Alberta alone, an average of 37 people die in water-related incidents every year, and most could be saved if lifejackets were worn.

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 Red Cross Water Safety Director Shelley Dalke, says young men are most at risk on the water, primarily men between the ages of 15 and 24, and in most cases, they were not wearing a life jacket.

The study also found alcohol was either present or suspected in close to 40% of all boating deaths among those over the age 15.

Another startling discovery was that 43% of the children who die in boating accidents across Canada are indigenous and none of those children were wearing life jackets.