A young high school student in Vietnam was found dead in water on Sunday after somebody posted on social media a video in which she and her boyfriend were captured publicly kissing each other.  

H.T.L., an eleventh grader at Nguyen Duc Mau High School in Quynh Luu District, Nghe An Province, was discovered on the morning of March 11 having died in a pond in her hometown.

On Saturday evening, the student did not come back home, and her family went to great lengths to ask her relatives and friends for her whereabouts, to no avail.

A pair of shoes, a cellphone and a “Sorry, Dad and Mom” death note were left on the pond bank.

The pond, in Quynh Luu District, Nghe An Province, where H.T.L.’s body was found on the morning of March 11, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The student showed no unusual signs of behavior and emotion previously, which means her sudden death came as a numbing shock to her family and classmates.

A video capturing L. and her boyfriend kissing each other had been uploaded on Facebook, but then removed on the evening of March 11, according to Nguyen Canh Ban, her form teacher, who said she was ranked second in the class last semester.

The family refused to have a post-mortem conducted on the student’s body.

“The cause for her death remains unknown. But ill comments below the video may have predisposed the student to resort to death,” said Lai The Quang, principal of the high school where she studied.

He added that the school has banned all students from using cellphones on campus, and any violation will result in confiscation of the devices until the end of the academic year.

The principal said the incident served as a reminder of the importance of equipping teenage students with life skills and knowledge of psychological qualities, so that they can form mature thinking in the face of pressure from public opinion.

A viral screenshot supposedly involving H.T.L. and her boyfriend in a classroom

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