Four sixth grade students drowned in Lao Cai, Vietnam, after going for a swim in a local stream.
A group of six schoolgirls went swimming in the stream that was about seven to 10 meters deep in Bat Xat district on May 25, VN Express reported. They fell into a deep water hole and only two of them were able to make it to shore.
At about 3 pm on that day, the bodies of the remaining four girls were recovered. According to local authorities, it was their last day of school for the school year.
Statistics from the World Health Organisation showed that more than 11,000 children drown in Vietnam every year. Children in Vietnam are 10 times more likely to drown than those in other Southeast Asian countries.
A US$2.4 million donation was made by Bloomberg Philanthropies (BP) that will fund the first two years of a five-year program that will help prevent drowning deaths among Vietnamese children.