Aim:
The purpose of our study is to present the number of drowning and near-drowning victims that have been admitted to the Emergency Department of the General Hospital of Chania during the period of May 2012 to September 2013.

Disign:
Twenty-seven victims have been admitted to the Emergency Department(18 males and 9 females), aged 18-88 years old with a mean age 65.5 ± 3.75 years old. 60% of them were foreigners and the rest were Greeks. 25% were admitted dead, all in seawater. All patients who admitted alive in the Emergency Department had respiratory failure. All incidents occurred accidentally during swimming mainly in the seawater. The time that victims spent under the water was unknown, while nobody has had injuries. 30% were hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (with mean age: 71.6 years old) with approximately a three-day hospitalization.

Results:
There was a statistically significant relationship between the prognosis of the patients and their age, the degree of acidosis and the hypercapnia. Specifically, the advanced age, the great degree of acidosis and hypercapnia, were associated with the admission of patients in intensive care unit. None of the patients, who came alive, died subsequently.

Conclusions:
Acute respiratory failure with severe disorders in the blood gases, are able to prefigure the outcome of the victims. Elderly and tourists are specific subgroups on whom drowning prevention programs must target.