At least 14 children were killed when a packed ferry that was taking them home from school sank in Cambodia's Mekong river, authorities have confirmed.
The accident occurred around 7pm local time on Thursday along the Mekong river southeast of the capital, Phnom Penh, police said.
All the victims were aged 11 to 14 years and none of them had lifejackets, but two students and two adult boat operators survived the tragedy.
The students were from Chamroeun island on the river and during the monsoon season used the ferry almost every day, but in the dry season, the river has little or no water and can be traversed by foot.
"This case is caused by the boat owner overloading the vessel, carelessness, and there were no life jackets for protection," provincial police chief Chhoeun Sochet said in a social media post.
He also said that rising water levels due to heavy rains had caused the disaster.
Authorities said the accident occurred as the boat was about 50 metres from shore and began to take on water in the bow.
Local police chief Am Thou said students were instructed to move to seats in the middle or stern of the boat as it began to sink but as they walked back, the boat became unbalanced and turned turtle.
Mr Thou said the boat’s owners, who were also its crew, were hospitalised and will face legal action.
One of the survivors said despite living metres from the river, she does not know how to swim well and when the boat was going down, she jumped out and drifted to the river’s banks.
Loeuk Dek district deputy police chief Dim Samrith said: “This will be remembered in Loeuk Dek district’s history… We feel very regretful. Such an incident should not have happened.”
Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen offered their condolences on social media on Friday.
The World Health Organisation said, according to its assessments in 2019, over 144,000 people died by drowning in the Asia Pacific region – 61 per cent of the global total.
