Two children and an adult died in separate drowning incidents in Kampong Cham and Preah Vihear provinces yesterday in what are just the latest in a recent spate of such deaths.

Serb Hong, district chief of staff in Kampong Cham’s Stung Trang district, said that two boys – Met Narong, 11, and Neang Chhayna, 10, both sons of local farmers – drowned at about 9:30am yesterday while playing in the rain and swimming in a pond behind their houses.

Meanwhile, in Preah Vihear province, a Choam Ksan district man named Chhoem Chantrea, 27, drowned yesterday morning while he and his neighbours were fishing at the O’Svay Water Gate in Sra Em commune.

Sra Em commune chief Prak Phy said that when Chantrea cast his net, his leg was tangled in the line, with the net “dragging him into the wildly flowing water, and as a result, he drowned”.

Other fishermen spent about an hour retrieving Chantrea’s body.

“In fact, the victim didn’t know how to use the fishing net, but he saw the villagers getting many fish, so he bought a fishing net and went fishing as well,” Phy added.