20-year-old drowning man died in Ostend

When a group of friends visited Ostend beach on Saturday evening, one of them got into trouble in the water. The friends of the young man from Sint-Jans-Molenbeek tried to get him out of the water, but they didn’t succeed. Emergency services arrived at the scene and the man was taken to hospital in critical condition. The victim died last night.

According to the rescuers, it was very dangerous to go into the water at that time, near the Western Strekdam in Ostend. The exact circumstances of the accident are still being investigated by the Bruges public prosecutor’s office.

Red zone

At the time of the accident, the lifeguards were no longer working. But even during their shift during the day they noticed that the wind and the current were in the direction of the breakwater. The lifeguards didn’t let anyone in and turned it into a red zone all day long. A few weeks ago, two young people in the same place also got into trouble.