Five eighth-grade students from the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An drowned on Thursday while picnicking near a local dam.

The victims, four boys and one girl, were all eighth graders at Trung Thanh Middle School in Yen Thanh District, Nghe An Province, Le Dinh Can, head of the district’s education office, confirmed.

The eight victims were part of a group of 15 students picnicking along the bank of Trai Xanh dam on Thursday afternoon, Can explained.

According to Phan Thi Bao Chau, a member of the group, the students had been eating lunch at a classmate’s house on the same day before heading to the dam to enjoy the afternoon.

The outing took a turn for the worse when one of the girls in the group accidently fell into the water while washing her legs, Chau recalled.

Four of the boys in the group jumped into the water to rescue the drowning girl, but in the end all five lost their lives, she said.

“I also jumped into the water to save them, but became too exhausted. I was lucky enough to be rescued by a friend on the bank,” she added.

All five of the victims’ bodies were found by rescue units late Thursday.

Local authorities have offered to help support each of the victims’ families with VND5 million (US$215).

Just the day before, a ceremony had been organized at Trung Thanh Middle School to officially end the school year, during which Pricipal Tran Thi Hai Van said he “did warn [his] students about the risk of drowning during summer activities.”

In 2018, there were 20 reported student drownings in Nghe An Province.

The number of young drowning victims, however, has exceeded 30 in just the first five months of 2019.

On Saturday afternoon, five schoolgirls, all 12 years old, suffered a similar fate as they were bathing along a stream in the northern province of Lao Cai.

Four of the girls were trying to save the other from drowning, but their effort ended in tragedy. 

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