When somebody drowns...?

Question

and the body is not found how many days will it take for the body to surface if it is not caught or snagged on anything?

Answer 1

When a body dies, it undergoes decay where gases are produced inside the body that causes it to bloat and rise to the surface. As most of the internal organs are intact in a 'freshy' dead body, these gases cannot escape through organs such as the stomach or air bladder till these organs get damaged. Subsequently, it may sink when the gases have a means of escaping and the dead body loses its buoyancy.

So the period of time between death and surfacing would depend on the rate of decomposition. Decomposition with liquid expulsion usually begins in a dry body within 30 hours.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

What the person before me said is true. Know there is a lot of factors that affect the rate of decay of the victim. One of the biggest ones is the water temperature, The colder the temperature the slower the body will decay. I have recover many drowning victims at my work. I work in South Texas so summers are really hot (110 F) and it will take a body approximately 3 days to float. On colder months like winter time (45 f in the day 32 F at night) a body floats in an avarage of 5 days. If you go to really cold climates like the bering sea they might not even come afloat. I hope i answered your question.