Two boys drowned on May 4 after they and several other children went swimming in Samrong Thom commune’s Prek Takeo 2 village of Kandal province’s Kien Svay district.
Commune police chief Kong Thoeun identified the victims as 14-year-old Khun Serey Sophea of Samrong Thom’s Stung village and 15-year-old Soth Piseth of the commune’s Prek Treng 2 village.
“They were not brothers, but one tried to help the other and they both drowned. Their bodies were examined by our pathologist who determined that the cause of death was drowning, as expected,” he said.
The two boys attended their classes at school in the afternoon, but it was not certain how they ended up going with 10 other children to visit the river.
According to those who witnessed it, the victims and the other children were swimming in the river when Piseth slipped and fell into deep water. Sophea then attempted to pull Piseth to safety by extending his hand out for him to grab, but he lost his balance and fell into the deep water as well.
Thoeun added that the other children present immediately ran to the village and told adults what was happening and they and the police rushed back to the scene but by then both boys had drowned.
He said he searched for the bodies for about a half hour before finding them around 10m away from where they had initially sank under the water.
According to Thoeun, on May 5 the commune and district authorities attended the boys’ funeral and donated money to both of their families.
