Hanoi - Five children aged between seven and thirteen drowned while celebrating the lunar New Year, or Tet, holidays at a lake in southern Vietnam, a policeman said Monday. The children, including three brothers, were playing at a lake in Dong Nai province, 60 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City, on February 8, according to local policeman Nguyen Dang Hanh.
One of the children slipped and fell into the water. The others jumped in to try to rescue him.
"None of them could swim, and there were no adults nearby to save them," Hanh said.
Hundreds of Vietnamese children drown every year, particularly during the rainy season in the Mekong Delta.
