At approximately 1:30 p.m., five students went to Vuc Mau lake, located in Block 24, Hoang Mai Ward, to play and swim. While in the lake, three girls tragically slipped and fell into a deep area.
The two other students ran to the village to call for help. Local authorities mobilized a search and rescue team, and by nearly 5 p.m. the same day, they recovered the bodies of the three girls, over 100 meters from where they initially fell in.
All three girls were students at a secondary school in Hoang Mai Ward.
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The location where the three schoolgirls drowned on the afternoon of 31/7. Photo: Hung Le |
The location where the three schoolgirls drowned on the afternoon of 31/7. Photo: Hung Le
Vuc Mau is the largest reservoir in Nghe An province. Constructed between 1978 and 1979, and operational since 1982, the reservoir has a capacity of 75 million cubic meters. Its normal water level is about 20.5 meters above sea level, and it's used for irrigation. The area where the girls drowned was over two meters deep.
Nearly 2,000 children drown in Vietnam every year. Children in rural areas are twice as likely to drown as those in urban areas. Since 2018, Vietnam has implemented a community-based drowning prevention program focused on teaching children to swim in high-risk provinces such as Dong Thap, An Giang, and Da Nang. Tens of thousands of children have received water safety instruction.
Vietnam aims to have at least 50% of children aged 6-15 able to swim by 2030.
Duc Hung
