For the water rescue teams, the high season begins with the summer weather. Again and again people drown while bathing in the Rhine. The temptation to go into the cool waters of the Rhine is great with scorching summer temperatures.

Since 2016, the city of Bonn has been using a total of 13 large-format signs to warn of the dangers lurking on both sides of the city on the banks of the Rhine.

This video is part of a cooperation between GA and WDR.

It is often underestimated that the boundary between stagnant and flowing water does not run slowly but appears unexpectedly. Where the bottom a bit further in drops steeply, you suddenly lose the ground under your feet. The Rhine flows at a speed of about six kilometres per hour in the city of Bonn, this can rise significantly again in high water situations.

Even experienced swimmers cannot withstand this strong current for long. In particular, the suction effect of the passing ships causes bathing accidents again and again. Bathing children can be torn out of the protective area between the Kribben and into the current, causing accidents.

(Original text: GA Bonn; Translation: Mareike Graepel)