While bathing in a river in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, three children were attacked by a shoal of fish on August 5. Two of the boys sustained serious injuries in their penises. The victims were admitted to Thap Muoi General Hospital with one of them having been discharged. Two others, Nguyen Huu Thien, 7 years old, and Nguyen Hoan Hao, 4 years old, still remain hospitalized due to severe injuries. The penises of Thien and Hao were nearly chopped off with Hao’s having been half-severed, said Dr Nguyen Van Hoang, deputy head of the hospital’s Surgery Department.

Thien's condition was worse. The two nearly-severed sections of his penis were merely connected by a thin piece of skin. Doctors have performed some necessary surgeries before stitching the wounds. The three children, of Thap Muoi District’s Tan Kieu commune, were bathing in the Kenh Giua River when they were suddenly attacked by some unidentified fish, Nguyen Huu Tinh, Thien’s father, said. They shouted for help and were rescued by some adults, Tinh said. An expert from the Southern Freshwater Fisheries Center said he was surprised to hear about the incident since freshwater fish in the Mekong Delta provinces are usually gentle and not dangerous to humans. “We will ask local authorities to warn people about such an attack and take measures to identify the species of the fish involved,” he said.