‘Racism’ suspected as Vietnamese children drown in Czech Republic

“Negligence and racism” caused the death of the two seven-year-old Vietnamese boys at the Lhota Lake resort in the Central Bohemian region last week, the local news website Britské Listy reported, citing witness. 

The boys’ mothers had sought assistance from employees of the resort after their children were lost. However, the employees were impolite and refused to search for two missing boys, the report said.

They spoke with the mothers in a highly derogatory manner and regarded them as "scum", the report said, citing the unnamed witness.

Initial cause leading to the negligence on the part of the resort’s employees was due to the fact that the victims were foreigners, it reported.

"One of the Vietnamese mothers - she could not swim - jumped into the water and looked for the boys there. No one of the employees helped her until the other visitors started shouting that the attendants should start helping her. The mothers were anxiously asking for help but since they were Vietnamese, everyone ignored them," the witness was quoted as saying.

The lifeguard was said to have left his post at that time to take shelter from the scorching heat, the report said.

A search was launched for the missing boys several hours later. They were found drowned in the lake.

The resort staff defended their actions saying they were afraid of “causing unnecessary panic” among visitors when searching for the Vietnamese boys.

The Czech-Vietnamese Society has asked local police to thoroughly investigate the tragedy.

More than 65,000 Vietnamese now live in the Czech Republic, making it the third biggest minority group in the country.