A 6-year-old schoolgirl was drowned on Thursday after the first grader jumped into a swimming pool in Ho Chi Minh City for a swimming competition she had registered although she was unable to swim. The victim was Do Hoang Phuong Anh of the Truong Van Hai Primary School in the city’s Thu Duc District, who registered to join the competition held for primary and junior high school students by the Thu Duc District Gymnastics and Sports Center on November 8. While the competition’s organizing board was preparing for the opening ceremony, Anh suddenly jumped into a swimming pool in the center and sank. Rescuers brought the girl out, gave her an artificial respiration but found that her breathing and heartbeat had been stopped, so they rushed her to Thu Duc General Hospital. After receiving intensive care, the girl was transferred to the Pediatrics Hospital for further treatment. However, due to critical condition, she was taken home and later died.

When Anh registered to attend the contest, the teacher in charge of her class thought that the girl could swim, the school’s management explained, adding that the school later, through Anh, sent her family a notice about the registration. After Anh’s death, her parents said she could not swim and that she had not shown them the notice. Yesterday Dan Tri reporters tried to contact the Boards of Directors of the Thu Duc Gymnastics and Sports Center but Nguyen Hai Dang, deputy director of the center, refused to meet them. Yesterday afternoon at the girl’s funeral, Le Minh Tuan, head of the district Education and Training Department, told Tuoi Tre that he could not give any comments until the department received a report from the school.