Deaths due to drowning

Background: in india drowning is one of the most common cause of death and it is mostly related to plenty of water resources from rivers, ponds, wells and extensive sea coast. Aim: to study death related to drowning. Materials and methods: this is a retrospective study of death due to drowning which underwent postmortem from 2008-2018 in department of Forensic medicine, Al Ameen medical college Bijapur, Karnataka. Results: Drowning deaths were predominantly seen in males (70%) followed by females (30%)with male to female ratio 2.33:1. Most common age group involved is 21-30 years(30%) followed by 31-40 years (20%). Most of the victims are married (48%) followed by unmarried(30%). Maximum number of deaths due to drowning has occurred in rural area (58%) followed by urban area (42%). Most of the victims are students (16%). Most of the victims belong to Hindu community(62%) followed by muslim community(20%). Most of the victims belong to upper lower class (36%) followed by lower calss (22%). Familial and Financial problem (22%) is the most common cause followed by Chronic alcoholism (20%). Lake (42%) is the most common place of occurrence. Most of the cases (92%) are showing positive result for some diatoms in bone marrow and sample water. In 6% cases, sample water only and 2% cases showing no diatoms in bone marrow and sample water. Conclusion: Deaths due to drowning is commonly observed in males in younger age group, married people, students followed by farmers and mostly people from rural population having familial and financial problems were commonly observed victims.