A crowd gathers during a search for 5 students who drowned in the Lo River in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, May 18, 2026. Photo by Anh Duong
Five teenage students drowned in northern Vietnam on May 18 after one was caught in a powerful river current and four friends jumped in to attempt a rescue.
The accident happened after school hours in Phu Tho Province when the students, aged 13 and 14, went swimming after studying for an examination.The authorities had recovered all five bodies from the Lo River by early evening, it said.Four primary and lower middle school students drowned in a separate incident on the Banh Lai River in Dak Lak Province on May 16.They were also reportedly swept away while swimming.According to Vietnam’s health ministry, roughly 2,000 children between the ages of 5 and 15 drown in the country every year.
