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It is a dangerous development that the Road Safety Board (KfV) is now drawing attention to in the middle of the bathing season. According to current surveys, one in ten Austrians between the ages of five and 19 cannot swim and just as many cannot swim well enough to save themselves if they get into danger in the water. Almost 80 percent of them are five to nine year olds. For those under five, drowning is the most common cause of accidental death, as accident researcher Peter Spitzer from Med Uni Graz explains. Around five children drown in Austria every year.