Man Who Went Swimming in Vltava River Rescued Near Charles Bridge

On Sunday morning, Prague firefighters and police officers saved a man from drowning in the Vltava River, pulling him to safety after being swept away by the strong current.

The incident occurred near Palacký Bridge, with rescue teams eventually retrieving him from the water between Charles Bridge and Mánes Bridge.

The rescue took place around 7 a.m., at a time when the river’s flow had reached 827 cubic metres per second, a rate that signals the first level of flood activity.

“Several dozen police officers and firefighters were deployed at 7 a.m. to assist a man who had entered the Vltava River in Smíchov and was carried downstream by the current. He became entangled in the reeds near Charles Bridge, where firefighters pulled him out and transported to Kampa,” reported the Prague police.

Interior Minister Vít Rakušan took to social media platform X to express frustration at the unnecessary risks some individuals take, putting extra pressure on emergency services.

He wrote, “I urge everyone once again: our integrated rescue services are already stretched thin. Those who recklessly endanger themselves divert critical resources from where they are truly needed.”

Firefighters have issued repeated warnings about the dangers of navigating or swimming in swollen rivers and waterways.

The weekend saw several other incidents across the country. In Ostrava, police stopped three men attempting to paddleboard down the swollen Odra River, while in the Opava region, several individuals were found windsurfing on the dangerously high waters of Hlučín Lake.

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