Body recovered from Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin amid rising summer drownings

Firefighters and the river brigade retrieved the swollen body of a man in his thirties from the Canal Saint‑Martin near Quai de Valmy early Saturday morning. The victim had no identification and appears to have been submerged for several days; a police inquiry has been opened to determine the cause of death.

The canal has been open to public swimming since mid‑June, limited to Sundays, as Paris seeks to alleviate heat‑wave conditions. Earlier incidents include a fatal drowning on 26 June outside the authorized zone and about fifty youths injured while jumping from bridges. On the same day, the city launched a new supervised swimming season on the Seine at three free sites: Bercy, Grenelle and the bras Marie.

Nationally, the sports and youth minister Marina Ferrari warned that more than 90 drownings have been recorded since 19 June, describing the figure as “inquiétant”.