
The area where the three teenage girls die after slipping into deep water in Nghe An Province on July 31
According to local authorities, the tragic incident occurred at around 2pm when five girls aged between 13 and 15 went swimming in the Vuc Mau Reservoir, located in Hoang Mai Ward. While entering the water, three of the girls lost their footing and slipped into a deep section of the reservoir.
The two remaining girls ran to the village to call for help. Local authorities launched an urgent search operation and recovered the bodies of the three girls at around 3pm, more than 100 metres from where they first went under.
All three were students at a secondary school in Hoang Mai Ward.
Vuc Mau is the largest reservoir in Nghe An Province, with a storage capacity of 75 million cubic metres. Built between 1978 and 1979 and operational since 1982, it serves as a key irrigation source for the region. The site where the girls drowned is over two metres deep.
Just one day earlier, on the afternoon of July 30, two brothers aged 9 and 6 drowned after falling into a water well in An Khanh Commune, Hanoi. According to local residents, the younger boy was trying to retrieve a ball from the well using a stick when he slipped and fell in. His older brother jumped in to save him but also drowned.
Vietnam records nearly 2,000 child drownings every year. Children in rural areas face twice the risk of drowning compared to those in urban settings.
Since 2018, Vietnam has implemented a nationwide drowning prevention programme, focusing on swimming lessons for children in high-risk provinces such as Dong Thap, An Giang and Danang.
The country aims for at least 50 per cent of children aged 6 to 15 to be able to swim by 2030.