By Tao Jun, Bui Long

HANOI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A little girl in a black one-piece swimsuit was swiftly swimming the butterfly stroke in an indoor swimming pool in Vietnam's Hanoi capital, but many of her ill-fated compatriots have lost their lives in rivers, lakes, canals and ponds nationwide.

"My parents are too busy with their work, so not until this summer, did they take me to this swimming class. But now, you see, I can swim like a dolphin," the little girl named Tran Yen Nhi, a nine-year-old student at Hanoi-based My Dinh 1 Primary School, told Xinhua on Thursday, breaking into a broad grin.

The slender girl has mainly found swimming butterfly stroke, breaststroke and backstroke in swimming pools a leisurely recreation, though she has known that swimming is good for her physical growth.

However, many other Vietnamese children, who wanted to wallow in rivers or ponds in summer in rural areas or just to play with water in urban areas, had to pay a too costly price.

On July 29, two siblings with the elder sister aged 12 stepped into Bui River in Hanoi's Chuong My district to play, but eventually drowned.

On the same day, three grade students aged 10 and 13, including two siblings faced the same fate after taking a bath behind their houses in a stream temporarily created by a recent flood in Do Luong district, central Nghe An province.

In mid-July, a little boy and his schoolmate joyfully played chivy around his house in Quang Xuong district, central Thanh Hoa province, then suddenly fell into a pond full of water due to torrential rain some days before. Arriving at the pond too late, adults failed to rescue the boys.

Also in mid-July, a group of little boy went to a canal in Ben Cat town, southern Binh Duong province to catch fish. Three 13-year-old boys slid into a deep hole in the canal, but adults managed to rescue only one of them.

In central highlands Gia Lai province, 27 local people, mostly grade students, drowned in the first half of this year, according to the provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

"Drowning is a silent epidemic claiming more than 2,000 children's lives per year in Vietnam," an official from the World Health Organization in Vietnam told Xinhua recently, adding that the rate of child drowning in Vietnam is higher than other Southeast Asian nations and 10 times higher than that of developed countries.

The official said that many deaths caused by drowning in Vietnam were preventable, and the drowning rate among local children would fall if adults supervise kids' activities more closely, and more kids were provided with survival swimming and water safety skills.

Because swimming is not a compulsory subject in schools in Vietnam, some foreign and local organizations have recently promoted the teaching of swimming and water safety skills for local children. In Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth is coordinating with many local organizations to teach swimming free of charge for 5,000 children in the age bracket of 8-16 this summer.

Besides, Vietnamese individuals have actively taught swimming in swimming pools, even in rivers or canals. "This summer, we are teaching some 1,000 people, mostly little children, how to swim and how to survive in water," Ta Thu Huong, a young swimming coach at "Bon Mua" (Four Seasons) swimming pool at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center in Hanoi, told Xinhua on Thursday.

"My husband, I and our friends have also joined hands with some schools, to teach swimming for students," the pretty young coach said, adding that all the students know how to swim breaststroke and freestyle stroke after several days of learning.

Like Huong, summer is the busiest time for Le Van Tung, a 41-year-old teacher of physical training at Cam Trung Junior High School in central Nghe An province. But unlike the young woman, he teaches swimming in a local river named Rac (Rubbish).

"Drowning has taken many children away from their parents, many students from their teachers, making us heartbroken. So I have asked for permission from local authorities and our school to teach swimming free of charge for children. And I hope our swimming and diving club will have a big swimming pool," the dark-skinned teacher told Xinhua recently.

In Hanoi, Yen Nhi was quickly swimming butterfly stroke, sometimes alone, sometimes with her schoolmates in the indoor swimming pool.

"I wish all children can swim, so that we are not afraid of drowning, and have more time swimming in the sea during summer vacations," the little girl said after swimming three consecutive rounds along the pool.