Three children drowned in two separate cases on Monday morning in Kampong Thom and Battambang provinces.

Kampong Svay District Deputy Police Chief Sin Linh said yesterday that the victims in Kampong Thom, Im Sokna, 11, and Vorng Chor, 13, were collecting morning glory and snails along the river for their mothers to sell in the market when the incident happened.

“According to the site examination, while both of them were picking morning glory and snails, one of them might have slipped into the river and then the other tried to help, but the attempt failed [and] as a result they drowned,” Linh said.

In Battambang province, Sampov Loun District Police Chief Pich Saren said that 3-year-old Yem Yi drowned in a pond located in front of his home while his mother was busy cooking.

A 2014 WHO study found that the risk of drowning for children under the age of 15 was twice as high in Cambodia as it was in other low- to middle-income countries in the region.