HOLIDAYMAKERS and local water users are being warned about the dangers of drinking alcohol before swimming after the death of a Melbourne man at Mulwala.
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Marty Humphreys, 44, drowned while swimming in Lake Mulwala on Wednesday, and divers recovered his body on Thursday.
He had been drinking before he went into the water and had a medical condition, believed to be related to a heart attack a year ago.
While Lifesaving Victoria spokeswoman Jennifer Arch did not want to comment on the incident specifically, she said alcohol and water were a bad mix.
In the 2013-14 financial year, 12 people in Victoria drowned after consuming alcohol.
Ms Arch said alcohol played a part in more than a quarter of drownings last financial year and almost one in five in the past decade.
She said alcohol was one of the top-three factors in drowning incidents.
“We don’t want people to drink and drown,” she said.
“Alcohol and water- related activities can be a fatal mix.
“If you’re drinking alcohol, it can impede your swimming ability, impede your judgment and cause people to take more risks around water.”
Mr Humphreys’ drowning is one of four incidents on Border waterways since December.
Albury father Sean Devlin was rescued after being stranded in the middle of Lake Hume for 12 hours.
Boosey student Denique Pearce had a leg severed by a boat on the Murray River near Bundalong, and Lavington fisherman Roger Bradney drowned on the Murray at Bungowannah.