Police said four people – two students and two boat crew – were rescued following the accident Thursday night on the Mekong River southeast of Phnom Penh, and one student was still missing on Friday.
Major General Chuyun Suchet, the Kandal County Sheriff, said on his Facebook page that the boat was overloaded and lacked life jackets, the Associated Press reported.
The students, aged 12 to 14, were returning from an English class on Thursday. They lived on an island in the river and used the ferry for transportation 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 crossed on foot.
The accident occurred near the Nick Loong Bridge over the Mekong River, which at that point separates Kandal County on the western shore from Prey Veng on the east. The bridge is part of Route 1, a major road that connects the capital, Phnom Penh, to Ho Chi Minh City in neighboring Vietnam.
The police chief of Lok Dyke district in Kandal, Um Tho, said the accident occurred while the boat was approaching shore. Water filled the bow, and the students were instructed to move to the seats in the middle or stern of the boat.
However, during their return, the boat became unbalanced and capsized.
One survivor, 12-year-old Ry Chanbora, was shown in a Swift News video online telling relatives that she usually doesn’t know how to swim well even though she lives near a river. She said that when the boat was going down, she jumped off it, trying to swim face up, and drifted to the riverbank.
Provincial officials visited the girl, and King Norodom Sihamoni, on his royal Facebook page, offered condolences and prayers to the families of the victims. Prime Minister Hun Sen also offered his condolences on the Telegram messaging platform and ordered rescuers to find all the missing.
“I would urge all people, especially those who live along the river, to take the utmost care during this period of flooding,” he said, referring to recent torrential rains that may have contributed to the accident.
Police chief M To said two of the boat’s operators were taken to hospital after the accident but that they would face legal action. He did not say what charges they would face.
Last year, the World Health Organization said that, according to estimates for 2019, there were more than 144,000 drowning deaths in the Asia-Pacific region, or 61% of the global total.
“Of the 70,000 drowning deaths in the WHO’s Southeast Asia region in 2019, more than 33% were among children under 15 years of age,” the UN agency said. “On average, men were three to four times more likely to drown than women.”