Beach guards' appeal: Parents, set off cell phones when children are washed

More than 300 people have drowned in Germany this year, few days during the current heat wave, which has not been marked by a drowning in the sea.

The German Association of Coast Guard, the largest of its kind in the world since there are about 400,000 volunteer guards on German beaches, lakes and shores, has made a direct connection between children's involvement in difficult water situations and parents who are more than focused on their mobile phones than to care for them.

For parents or grandparents, we have advice. When your children or grandchildren are in the water, put off the phones”, an association spokesman said.

But the association has also blamed the school system, which has not included the compulsory learning of swimming in its curriculum, even from an early age. Just last week, drownings on German beaches have dominated the main news, including that of a seven-year-old who drowned in a pool in the town of Marktredvitz.