Police in Ha Dong District announced on Wednesday evening that they had detained Tran Lam Thang, 24, for investigations into the death of a ninth-grade student during his swimming class.
Thang was accused of negligence as he looked at his mobile phone during the swimming class in the pool of the Vietnam International School on August 22.
According to a report from the police, Thang had 27 students of class 9A1 for a swimming class at 1.20 pm on August 22. After a 10-minute warm-up, he took 11 students to the pool. Thang let the students practice swimming in the pool themselves while he sat on a stool at one end and used his mobile phone most of the time.
The practice session lasted 20 minutes and the teacher didn't notice the missing student when finishing his class at 2 pm. It was not until a staff member at the school came to tidy up the pool that a male student was found at the bottom of the pool at 2.06 pm. He was rushed to Ha Dong General Hospital but doctors said he had died before arriving at the hospital.
A security camera in the area showed that the teenager walked from the 1.2-metre part of the pool to the 1.55-metre-deep part. He continuously lifted his arms up and then sank after about three minutes.
