More than 300 Germans have drowned in the last year, and a big chunk of that number are children.

The German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) has made a direct connection between children getting into difficulty in the water and parents being too busy on their mobile phones to notice.

Achim Wiese, the DLRG’s spokesman, said that too few parents and grandparents are heeding the advice to put their phones away when their kids are near water.

Peter Harzheim of the German federation of swimming pool supervisors said: “We’re experiencing on a daily basis that people treat swimming pools like a kindergarten and simply don’t pay attention.

"In the good old days parents and grandparents spent more time with their children in the swimming pool. But increasing numbers of parents are fixated by their smartphones and are not looking left or right, let alone paying attention to their children.

“It’s sad that parents behave so neglectfully these days.”