The banks of the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor (eastern Syria), long a refuge for residents escaping the summer heat, have turned into a death trap, with record numbers of drowning incidents recorded recently.
Natural conditions have combined with weak public awareness of the dangers of swimming in unsafe areas, while government and local warnings have failed to curb the rush to the river.
Cases have continued to rise in Deir Ezzor governorate since the start of the current season, with drowning incidents in the Euphrates River reaching about 35, most of them involving children and young men, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in the area.
Public Indifference
Despite strict and repeated warnings issued by the Emergency and Disaster Directorate in the governorate about the severe danger of the river’s currents, the reality on the ground shows collective defiance of these guidelines. The riverbanks are crowded daily with families and young men heading to the water as their only option to escape heatwaves, ignoring whirlpools and hidden dangers.
Local public opinion is raising questions about the effectiveness of warning appeals amid what it described as “a state of general laxity.”
Marwan al-Mohammad, a resident of the governorate, questioned the value of continued awareness campaigns when they are met with a complete lack of public response.
Marwan told Enab Baladi, “Every day, we now receive tragic news about a young man drowning. There is a strange state of indifference and explicit disregard for instructions.”
Although the walls along the river are covered with warning posters banning people from approaching and swimming during this particular period, according to Marwan, he sees people moving around and gathering there while completely ignoring them, as if the matter does not concern them or affect their safety.
Proposal for Monitoring Patrols
This recklessness is not limited to adults. It extends more dangerously to children, who frequent the riverbed without any supervision or family follow-up.
Mona al-Ibrahim, a resident of the city, directly blamed families for the loss of their children’s lives, asking in protest, “Where are the parents of these boys? How do they allow them to go and risk their lives without anyone watching?”
To limit this chaos, Mona proposed through Enab Baladi that permanent monitoring patrols be deployed and stationed along the riverbanks to strictly ban swimming in areas classified as dangerous.
Mona added, explaining children’s behavior, that “feelings of excitement and mutual encouragement among friends push some children, who cannot swim in the first place, to throw themselves into the middle of the waterway. Within seconds, they are shocked by the force of the waves and the speed of the violent current, which immediately paralyzes their movement completely and prevents them from returning or surviving by reaching the shore.”
The hidden dangers in those waters were embodied on the ground in an incident recounted to Enab Baladi by Mutaz al-Abdullah, who was an eyewitness and took part in an attempt to rescue a child no older than 12 after he was swept away by the small branch of the river in the western al-Huwayqa neighborhood.
Mutaz said, “We did not hesitate for a moment. My friend and I tried to rescue him as soon as we saw him floundering in the water. We began an intensive search for him with Civil Defense members that lasted a full hour without stopping, but in the end we found him as a lifeless body.”
Mutaz concluded his testimony by stressing that the biggest question mark remains directed first and foremost at the child’s parents, wondering, “How can a family allow a child at such an early age to come to the river and swim in it alone, especially under the current conditions and dangers?”
Figures That Defy Previous Seasons
Data announced by the Emergency and Disaster Directorate in Deir Ezzor governorate on Euphrates victims since the start of the 2026 swimming season showed a record rise in drowning rates compared with last year. This coincides with major field challenges facing rescue teams, which have so far been unable to retrieve the bodies of several missing people despite intensive search operations.
In a clarification to Enab Baladi, the director of the operations center at the Emergency and Disaster Directorate in Deir Ezzor governorate, Al-Baraa al-Hamad, revealed the details of these worrying statistics. He confirmed that the directorate had responded to a large number of reports since the start of the current season, and that the total number of drowning cases recorded as of June 11 reached 35, a very high figure compared with the previous season.
Al-Hamad added that the toll was divided between 19 drowning deaths and 16 people rescued from certain death. He praised the pivotal role of the local community in field relief operations, as civilians present at drowning sites rescued 13 people, while the directorate’s teams were able to rescue three.
Three bodies remain missing in the riverbed and teams are struggling to retrieve them, according to Al-Hamad. Among the most prominent cases is a person who went missing in al-Husseiniyah village 11 days ago and has not been found despite continuing search attempts.
They also include a young man who drowned on June 9 in front of al-Nakheel Restaurant, with teams still combing the area for the third consecutive day, and a five-year-old girl swept away by the small branch of the Euphrates River, with the search for her still ongoing.
He noted that the Empowerment Administration at the Emergency Directorate is working in parallel with rescue operations to intensify awareness sessions on the dangers of swimming in areas not designated for it, covering all areas of the governorate. However, he added that compliance with these warnings remains below the required level.
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