At Least 6 Students Drown, 24 Injured on School Trip to Beach

At least six children have drowned and two dozen others were injured during a school trip to a beach in Egypt.

Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) confirmed that the incident happened while the children had been on a school trip organized by an aviation hospitality academy to Abu Talat beach in Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday, Aug. 23, according to Roya News, Ahram Online and News of Bahrain.

The ministry told the outlets that 16 fully equipped ambulances were dispatched immediately to the scene and that several students received medical aid from first responders. 

Three students were treated on site for injuries, while 21 others were taken to nearby hospitals. Thirteen were transported to Agami Specialized Hospital and eight went to Al-Amreya General Hospital, and all were being treated for drowning-related asphyxia and were under the care of specialized teams, per Roya News and Ahram Online.

It is unclear how the incident happened at this point. However, officials in Alexandria have ordered the beach to close and issued red-flag warnings to indicate that the area has hazardous sea conditions and that swimming is prohibited, per Identity Magazine.

Photos captured by the outlets showed several children being wheeled into ambulances on a stretcher by first responders. Some first responders could be seen holding specialized equipment as they prepared to help the students.

Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypt’s health minister, told the outlets that he was closely monitoring the situation and noted that the families affected by the event would have the health ministry’s full support.

After the incident, the MoHP renewed its call for the public to follow beach safety guidelines — especially during group outings — and emphasized that prevention was still the best way to save lives, according to Roya News. 

According to Ahram Online, incidents of drowning in Egypt often spike in the summer, especially along the Mediterranean coast, where rougher sea conditions heighten the danger.

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There are around 300,000 annual drowning deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The organization noted that children are the ones most susceptible to drowning, as children under the age of 5 accounting “for nearly a quarter of all drowning deaths.”

The WHO noted that drowning is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4 and the third leading cause of death for children between the ages of 5 and 14.