Five young girls were found dead in a local river in the central province of Quảng Bình in a single day.— Photo vietnamnet.vn

In the morning, eight children in grade six went swimming in a section of the Gianh River in the province’s Tuyên Hóa District. They were students from the same class and had just participated in a year-end review at their school.

The children, who were all 12 years old, saw that three girls were drowning and started to scream for help. People who lived nearby rushed into the water to rescue the girls but were too late.

Later in the afternoon, two more young girls, aged nine and six, were found dead in the river’s upper part in Minh Hóa District. Residents of the district’s mountainous commune of Trọng Hóa said they saw the siblings following their mother to a field near the river.

The two went for a swim in the river while their mother was working. Later, residents found their bodies in the water.

Many children around the country have not had swimming and survival training, and drownings are common. The education sector has pushed to have children trained in swimming pools, but the programmes have only been popular in urban areas.

Experts also said a lack of playgrounds for children led them to choose to swim in rivers for entertainment. — VNS