The Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) has given 500 school bags which can double as life jackets worth 75 million VND (roughly 4,100 USD) to children of the northern Nam Dinh province.

The National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) on Oct. 6 handed over the gift to the children in Truc Ninh and Nghia Hung districts where the number of drowned children remains high.

This is part of the bank’s 450 million VND aid package of 3,000 bags to children living in river side areas in six provinces, including the northern provinces of Yen Bai and Nam Dinh, the central province of Quang Binh and the southern provinces of Dong Thap, Can Tho and Ca Mau.

Drowning is consider as the leading cause of child mortalities in Vietnam , accounting for 12,700 out of the total of 27,000 deaths each year, according to the Ministry of Health./.