At least 14 children die after ferry sinks in Cambodia’s Mekong River

At least 14 children were killed when an overloaded ferry that was carrying them home from school sank in Cambodia’s Mekong river, authorities said on Friday.

Rescue teams were searching for one other student after the incident occurred on Thursday in Kandal province about 53 kilometres (33 miles) southeast of the capital Phnom Penh, provincial police chief Chhoeun Sochet said.

“This case is caused by the boat owner overloading the vessel, carelessness, and there were no life jackets for protection,” he said in a social media post.

The victims were aged 11 to 14 years, he added. Two students and two adult boat operators survived.

The students were returning from an English class on Thursday. They lived on an island in the river and used the ferry for transport almost every day in the rainy season, as did others from their village. During the dry season, the river sometimes has little or no water and can be traversed by foot.

Cambodia boat sinking: 3 dead as survivors say they had no food, water

The police chief in Kandal’s Leuk Daek district, Am Thou, said the accident occurred as the boat was approaching the shore. It took on water in the bow, and the students were instructed to move to seats in the middle or stern of the boat.

However, as they walked back, the boat became unbalanced and turned over.

One of the survivors, 12-year-old Ry Chanbora, was shown in a video broadcast online by Swift News telling relatives that she normally doesn’t know how to swim well despite living near the river. She said that when the boat was going down she jumped out, trying to swim with her face up, and drifted to the river bank.

Provincial officials paid a visit to the girl, and King Norodom Sihamoni on his royal Facebook page offered condolences and prayers for the families of the victims. Prime Minister Hun Sen also gave condolences on the Telegram messaging platform and ordered rescuers to find all the missing.

“May I urge all the people, especially the people who live along the river, to pay the highest care during this flooding period,” he said, referring to the recent heavy rains that possibly contributed to the accident.

Police chief Am Thou said the boat’s two operators had been hospitalised after the accident but would face legal action. He did not say what charges they would face.

Millions of Cambodians live and work near the Mekong river, a key waterway that runs through several Southeast Asian countries and China.

The World Health Organization said last year that according to assessments in 2019, more than 144,000 drowning deaths occurred in the Asia-Pacific region, 61 per cent of the global total.

“Of the 70,000 drowning deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2019, more than 33 per cent were among children aged under 15 years”, said the UN agency. “On average, men were three to four times more likely to drown than women”.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.