A 13-year-old drowned yesterday while swimming with his friends in a 5-metre-deep pond within Kork Bachoan pagoda in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district, according to local authorities.

Chaom Chao commune deputy police chief Sao Sarith said that the victim, Try Sopanha, a grade-six student at Kork Bachoan Primary School, was playing at the pagoda adjacent to his school when the incident happened.

“The monk and other people did not know when he went to swim in the pond, but at 9:30am, they heard a few boys screaming that their friend Sopanha drowned in the pond,” Sarith said.

According to school principal Sor Sarun, Sopanha’s class yesterday morning had been cancelled as the teacher had asked for a day off for personal reasons.

His mother, Pun Sophany, 35, praised Sophana her eldest son as being obedient and helpful around the house.

According to a 2014 WHO study, the risk of drowning for children under 15 was twice as high as it is in other low- to middle-income countries in the region.