Hanoi - Three sisters ages between 4 and 8 have drowned in a small pond near their home in southern Vietnam while their parents were away, officials said Thursday. Nguyen Thao Vi, 8, Nguyen Thao Duyen, 6, and Nguyen Thao Nguyen 4, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in a pond near their home in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, 350 kilometers south-west of Ho Chi Minh City.
"Their parents were away working, so the three sisters went swimming in the pond. But they couldn't swim," said Ho Song Hoa, a police officer of Ca Mau City.
Drowning is always a threat for children in Vietnam, especially in the flood season between June and October in the Mekong Delta provinces, according to Nguyen Dinh Thiet, director of the Children's Department under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.
"About 400 children drown every year in the Mekong Delta region," Thiet said.
In addition to seasonal floods, most rural Vietnamese homes have fish ponds or are located near rivers.
Only about 8 per cent of Vietnamese children under six years old know how to swim and only 20 per cent of those ages six to eight can swim, according to the Vietnam News, which this week published an editorial calling for swimming to be part of school curriculum.
