A student drowned while trying to save a woman and her two children who had fallen into a river in Thanh Hóa Province on Thursday.

A student drowned while trying to save a woman and her two children who had fallen into a river in Thanh Hóa Province on Thursday. - Photo nhandan.com.vn

According to local police, Lê Thị Loan, a secondary school teacher, took her two kids to the Ghép River in Tĩnh Gia District at noon to release carp fish as part of the ritual of Kitchen Gods’ Day (23rd day of the last month of the Lunar New Year).

They slipped and fell in the river.

Upon hearing their screams for help, a young man named Hoàng Đức Hải who was nearby swam out to the river and brought the family back to the bank.

The exhausted man, however, was washed away in the current.

Rescuers found his body three hours later.

According to police, Hải was a senior student at a university in Hà Nội and had come home in Hải Ninh Commune a few days ago for Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year). — VNS