Many tragic drowning cases
At the beginning of this summer alone, the Central region has recorded dozens of drowning cases in children. In Quang Ngai province alone, according to statistics from 2019 to present, about 100 children have died from drowning. This situation mainly occurs in districts such as Binh Son, Quang Ngai city, Duc Pho town... Most recently, the tragic drowning incident occurred in Mo Duc district on May 1, 2025, causing three students to die after being swept away by waves while swimming in the sea.
In Binh Dinh, in May 2025, there were 4 drowning incidents, killing 6 children. The main reason is that the propaganda work on preventing and combating drowning accidents is still limited; children lack swimming skills and skills to handle dangerous situations in water; parents' subjectivity when letting children swim in the sea, river, or lake without supervision.
Although drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children, the rate of children who know how to swim and have safety skills in water in the Central provinces is still very low.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phuc, residing in Tinh Giang commune, Son Tinh district, Quang Ngai province, shared: "My house is located right next to a river and irrigation canal, but my two children, even though they are over 12 years old, still swim very poorly. Every summer, I don't know where to take my children to learn swimming because there is no place in the commune that teaches children."
Lack of water safety training classes
According to the Department of Health of Quang Ngai province, the main cause of drowning is that children in rural and mountainous areas - where there are many rivers and streams - lack swimming classes and safety skills in water. Meanwhile, many localities still do not have enough public swimming pools or safe water recreation areas. Parents are busy making a living, sometimes subjective in supervising their children, especially during the long summer vacation.
Mr. Tran Hoang Tuan - Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province - said that after many mass drowning incidents occurred in the area in early May 2025, the province issued an urgent document directing the strengthening of prevention and control of drowning accidents for children and students.
The Provincial People's Committee assigned the Provincial Police to increase patrols and controls in areas of rivers, streams, ponds, and beaches where people and children often gather to swim and play. Water activities that do not ensure safety conditions according to regulations will be strictly handled. The provincial Department of Health is directed to organize training courses to improve first aid skills, improve propaganda capacity and prepare medical forces for emergency response.
In Khanh Hoa - there are many beaches where dangerous underground cyclones often appear. A representative of Nha Trang Bay Management Board said that the locality is coordinating to survey and put up warning signs of tornadoes in areas with many people swimming to improve early warning and risk prevention. At the same time, the province also organizes training courses on drowning prevention and control skills for people and local rescue forces. These classes aim to equip knowledge to identify dangerous flows, how to handle situations when encountering incidents and methods to support victims safely.
Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Education and Training Le Dinh Thuan said that the 2025 - 2035 drowning prevention and control skills education program is currently being implemented in general schools, continuing education centers, vocational education, focusing on primary, secondary schools and communities - where swimming pools will be invested in to serve water safety skills training.
The Education sector of Binh Dinh province has implemented an inter-sectoral drowning prevention and control plan for the period 2023 - 2030. Although the number of schools with swimming pools is still limited, schools have instructed parents to take their children to swimming classes, and at the same time deploy a set of documents on drowning prevention and control including 7 topics from primary to high school.
In schools with conditions, direct swimming lessons are encouraged to be organized. The Department of Education and Training coordinated with the Provincial Youth Union to organize a program to foster swimming skills and prevent drowning through the mobile swimming pool system.
The leaders of the provincial education sector admitted that, in addition to subjective factors and unpredictable weather changes, students need to be reminded not to swim in unsafe areas, especially when there are no adults supervising.
In Khanh Hoa, Nha Trang Bay Management Board warned that in coastal areas such as Bai Dai and Nha Trang, underground tornadoes often appear at a speed of up to 2.5m/s, which can sweep people away from the shore. Due to lack of knowledge, many people reacted by swimming upstream to get to shore, leading to exhaustion and drowning.
According to the instructions of a professional agency, when encountering a whirlwind, you need to swim across or follow the bow to avoid being pulled away. If you do not know how to swim or are exhausted, the person in distress should relax their body, wait for the opportunity to call for help instead of panicking.
In addition to raising public awareness, local authorities need to survey and install warning signs of tornadoes at tourist beaches such as Nha Trang and Cam Lam. Schools and mass organizations have also actively implemented propaganda sessions, life skills training, escape skills and first aid in drowning for students.
Ms. Vo Thi Loan - a retired teacher in Nha Trang - said: "Teaching swimming skills, saving drowning, warning of risks when swimming in rivers, lakes, streams, and equipping life jackets, monitoring children when swimming in the sea are practical measures to minimize risks".
