Two killed in separate drownings in Netherlands

Another two people drowned in the Netherlands on Sunday night. A 3-year-old girl died in a hospital shortly after she was found in a watery ditch in Leerdam. And a man drowned in the Oosterschelde after disappearing underwater while swimming.

The 3-year-old girl went missing early in the evening, AD reports. A search was launched, including a message sent on alert system Burgernet. She was eventually found in a ditch. The police tried to resuscitate her, as dit the paramedics on the way to the hospital. But it was to no avail. The toddler was pronounced dead at the hospital. According to the newspaper, the authorities believe the girl was in the water for around 45 minutes.

The authorities in Wemeldinge, Zeeland received a report that two swimmers went into the Oosterschelde and only one returned around 9:45 p.m., the Telegraaf reports. The Coast Guard launched a search for the missing man, deploying four rescue boats and a helicopter. The swimmer was pulled out of the water by one of the rescue boats around 11:00 p.m. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. His identity was not revealed. 

Sunday's victims are the latest in a line of drownings in the Netherlands this summer. Earlier this month a 5-year-old girl drowned in Amsterdam's Sloterplas and an 8-year-old Belgian boy drowned at a campground in Chaam, Noord-Brabant. A few days before that, a 5-year-old boy was found drowned in a ditch in Vleuten after he snuck out of his home. And late in June three people drowned in separate incidents while swimming in the Waal river.