Four drowned and two went missing as a group of nine ninth graders were enjoying a beach swim in Thang Binh District in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam on Friday afternoon.

The tragic accident occurred at around 3:30 pm, the fourth day of the new lunar year, according to Thang Binh police.

Search was still underway for the two missing students as of the end of Friday.

The nine students of the district's Nguyen Duy Hieu Secondary School went for a swim at a beach some 30 kilometers to the south of their school.

Upon arriving at the beach, only eight went swimming while one decided to stay on the shore.

But all of these eight students began to drown as they swam outside the safe area. Only one of them managed to swim to the shore and shouted for help with the kid who had been staying there.

The body of a victim was taken back home by the family members. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

Local people rushed to the rescue and managed to save one schoolgirl, Nguyen Hoang Ngoc Anh.

She was brought ashore and received first aid at a local medical center before being transferred to the provincial General Hospital.

Of the six students whom rescuers failed to take to the shore, four bodies were found, while the two others remained unaccounted for as of 7:30 pm the same day.

The deceased students were identified as Tran Thi Thuy, Tran Le Ly Na, Nguyen Van Y and Pham Thi Thuan.

The Quang Nam police department has mobilized a rescue vehicle and eight rescuers to dive along the coast to continue the search efforts for the missing students.

Local fishermen also joined the overnight search efforts, scouring the beach with nets and fishing hooks.

Drowning remains one of the major causes of child mortality in Vietnam.

The father of one of the two remaining missing students waits for news of his son. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre

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