City children will enjoy a wealth of entertainment on Children’s Day on June 1, but those in the countryside will just make the most of their natural, often dangerous, surroundings to have fun.
In the summer, children can often be found swimming in rivers, diving from bridges into water, rowing boats on lakes or standing on water pipes fishing.
As summer sets in, children can be found “flying” from the two-metre high Dien Van Bridge in Dien Chau District, Nghe An Province, into the deep river.
A local resident said, “The children swim in the river every afternoon. I’ve seen dozens of children jumping from the bridge into the river. I’m really worried about their safety, but I’m unable to convince them to stop.”
In Vien Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District, 3rd or 4th grade children can be found perched on water pipes across the river trying to fish.
On Lam River, children paddle boats or play in the water.
The latest statistics from the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Health Department reveal that drowning ranks second with 22.6%, just behind traffic accident at 26.7% as the main cause of children’s deaths.
Drowning is the main cause of fatality among children under 15 in Vietnam, accounting for nearly 70% of all deaths, with half of them being children aged between five and nine. The rate of deaths by drowning is 10 times higher than developed countries.
According to the United Nations Children\'s Fund (UNICEF), more than 12,700 children in Vietnam annually die of drowning.
Children playing in Nghe An Province:
Diving in Lam River in Thanh Chuong District
Playing in Nam Mo River in Ky Son District
Swimming in a lake in Yen Thanh District
Children in Tuong Duong District playing with boats on the Lam River
They often jump from Dien Van Bridge into the river
Standing on water pipes fishing