About 100 people are missing in Lake Constance

Two bodies were found in Lake Constance at the weekend and had been lying in the lake for some time. Their appearance likely has something to do with the current flood. In total, more than a hundred people are currently missing in the lake.

The identity of the two people who were recently found remained unclear as of Monday. On Saturday morning, a boat passenger on German soil discovered the body of a male two kilometers from the mouth of the Rhine River.

Vorarlberg state police said on Saturday evening that three kayakers discovered another man dead in the water between Hard A and Lindau D. He has probably been dead for more than six months. An autopsy has been ordered and is scheduled for Tuesday.

Water pressure keeps the body down

Fatal accidents occur in Lake Constance every year. Statistics show that a total of 15 people died in accidents around the lake in 2023. In 13 cases, these were swimmers.

103 people are currently missing. Bernhard Aigner, commander of the maritime police, told the Austrian news agency APA that in the past ten years, ten cases of missing persons have been registered.

A stand-up paddler who took to the lake off Lochau A despite strong winds has been missing since August 2023. In January 2012, two fishermen got caught in a storm near Vosach A and only their overturned boat has been found.

Aigner explained that from a depth of 50 metres, the water pressure keeps the body down. The resulting putrefactive gases were not enough to push the body to the surface.

When layers of water with different temperatures rotate in the fall and spring, this process sometimes raises what lies in the depths. Missing people can also reappear due to floods or storms. Aigner said the fact that two bodies have now been found may have something to do with the recent floods.

SDA