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At least nine students have died in southern Cambodia after their boat capsized, officials said.
Four people – two students and two crew members – were rescued after an accident on the Mekong River southeast of Phnom Penh on Thursday night, and two remained missing on Friday, police said.
Major General Chhoeun Sochet, Kandal provincial police chief, said on his Facebook page that the ferry was overloaded and there were no life jackets.
The students, aged between 12 and 14, live on an island in the river and are transported by ferry almost every day during the rainy season, as do the rest of the village.
During the dry season, the river has little or no water and can be crossed on foot.
The students were on their way to English class on Thursday when the boat capsized.
The accident happened near the Neak Loeung Bridge on the Mekong River, which separates the province of Kandal on the west bank from the province of Polo Veng on the east bank.
The bridge is part of Highway 1, the main road connecting the capital Phnom Penh with neighboring Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.
Am Thou, chief of police in Kandal’s Leuk Daek district, said the accident happened when the boat was approaching the shore. It entered the water at the bow and the students were instructed to move to the middle or stern seats.
However, as they walked back, the boat became unbalanced and overturned.
One of the survivors, 12-year-old Ry Chanbora, told relatives in a video posted online by Swift News that although she lives by a river, she usually can’t swim.
When the boat sank, she said, she jumped out and tried to swim with her face up before drifting to the edge of the river.
Provincial officials visited the girl, and King Norodom Sihamoni posted his condolences and prayers for the families of the victims on his royal Facebook page.
Police chief Am Thou said the owner of the boat, who was a crew member, was taken to hospital following the accident but would face legal action. He did not say what charges they would face.
The World Health Organization said last year that based on a 2019 assessment, more than 144,000 people died from drowning in the Asia-Pacific region, or 61 percent of the global total.
“Of the 70,000 drowning deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2019, more than 33% were children under the age of 15,” the UN agency said.
“On average, men are three to four times more likely to drown than women.”
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