Three boys drown in Mekong in Nakhon Phanom

[webfact]

Three boys drown in Mekong in Nakhon Phanom

By The Nation

 

FILE photo//Wikipedia

 

Three boys drowned while they were cooling off in the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom’s Tha Uthan district on Sunday afternoon.
 

They were identified as Suriya Kitisriworaphan, 9, Sarawut Konglao, 14, and Jetniphat Konglao, 10.

 

Wintnesses said they drowned at 3.30pm, and villagers located their bodies about two hours later.

 

Relatives said the three boys did not know how to swim and they were initially just playing in the water far not from the riverbank in Ban Tha Dok Kaew village in Tambon Tha Champa.

 

Suriya’s brother, Worawat Kitisriworaphan, 14, said he agreed to let his younger brother play in the shallow water, and had accompanied him to the river.

 

Worawat said Suriya wandered from the bank and slipped into a deep spot, then his two friends rushed to help him, causing all three to drown. Worawat said he tried, but failed, to save the other boys.

 

Meechai and Amkha Konglao, parents of Sarawut and Jetniphat, said it was hard for them to accept that they had lost both their two children in the incident.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30343771

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-23

[Nong Khai Man]

Sooooooooo Very Sad......RIP Kids.....

[Tagaa]

Sorry that the kids died, but how much responsibility will be attached to the parents?

 

Kids cant swim...river nearby...OK to play in the river. Are you kidding me?

 

Kids cant swim...river nearby ...Parents to kids...STAY OUT OF THE RIVER OR YOU'LL DIE!!!!!

 

How about ...river nearby...teach kids to swim...

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

Very sad and a waste of life.

18 hours ago, Tagaa said:

teach kids to swim

How true.

But how many public pools do you have in your area? (in Isan).

Not so speak of schools with a pool.

Zero effort from school.

Just another facet of the subsubstandard education system.

 

[InMyShadow]

So many drown literally feet away from land. Just panicked splashing like crazy ...even learning to "dog paddle" is better than nothing

[jenny2017]

They were identified as Suriya Kitisriworaphan, 9, Sarawut Konglao, 14, and Jetniphat Konglao, 10.

 

Wintnesses said they drowned at 3.30pm, and villagers located their bodies about two hours later.

 

Relatives said the three boys did not know how to swim and they were initially just playing in the water far not from the riverbank in Ban Tha Dok Kaew village in Tambon Tha Champa.

 

RIP Suriya, Sarawut and Jetnipat. Your parents just forgot that you existed, please forgive them. But please tell them how you feel in your next life. 

 

  "Just playing in the water" is similar to "just playing with a car". 

 

   The Mekhong can be very deadly even for people who can swim. 

[mejomini]

There should be basic swimming lessons in the schools. Better driver testing. Traffic law enforcement. Am I wishing for the impossible? Some of us could try to change things....like teach a kid how to swim.

[mejomini]

25 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Very sad and a waste of life.

How true.

But how many public pools do you have in your area? (in Isan).

Not so speak of schools with a pool.

Zero effort from school.

Just another facet of the subsubstandard education system.

 

What are YOU doing about it?

[jschorr]

Very sad news! But, unfortunately, far more common than most people know.  According to the Thai Department of Public Health, drowning is the leading cause of death for children in Thailand and it is not just because around 75% of the children can't swim; it is also because they do not know what to do when others are in trouble.  The instinctive jumping in to help is almost always wrong and it is the reason there are often multiple drowning deaths in a single incident.  An average of around 1,000 Thai children have drowned each year over the past several years.  Here in Chiang Mai, the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club has been sponsoring a Children's Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program for the past 2 years.  All CM public school (where the poorest children go) fourth graders have the opportunity to learn survival swimming and water safety through this program.  We use an adaptation of the Royal Life Saving Society curriculum and offer 15 hours of instruction.  We have taught around 600 children over the past two years. Thanks to a grant from UK-based Safe Child Thailand, we have expanded our program to Lampang and Phuket.  We are looking for Rotary/NGO/Service Club partners in other Thai communities.  Message me, if you want to learn more, contribute in some way, or help us expand to other areas of Thailand.  The numbers of these tragic deaths can be reduced through education of children, but we also need  to educate parents and communities as well.  The Thai Department of Public Health has developed a Merit Maker Program to address these needs.  But more effort is needed!  

[FitnessHealthTravel]

Children don’t have to all be great swimmers but they all need to learn how to save themselves. As a parent it is hard to get them to learn sometimes but it is worth pushing them. RIP to the poor young boys.

[Tagaa]

On 4/24/2018 at 10:40 AM, KhunBENQ said:

But how many public pools do you have in your area? (in Isan).

.

 

You don't need a pool to learn how to swim.

 

There are literally thousands of shallow fish ponds dotting every village in Issan. There are two within a few hundred meters of my house.