Health officials have warned parents to be more observant of their children around water as drowning was the leading cause of death for those under 15.
Suwich Thammapalo, director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 12, said statistics from the Bureau of Non-communicable Diseases showed 1,243 children died each year from drowning, or an average of 3.4 per day.
The high-risk period was between March and May when schools are closed. Boys were twice as likely to drown as girls, the statistics showed.
The warning came after a tragedy in Nakhon Ratchasima on Friday when four girls, including twin sisters, drowned.
Dr Suwich said officials were also concerned about children who were not strong swimmers with no life-saving skills trying to save their friends in difficulty.
He said only 23.7% of children under 15 could swim and only 4.4% of them had emergency assistance skills.
Dr Suwich urged parents to teach their kids how to swim as well as to closely monitor them around water, especially at this time of the year.
On Friday, four girls aged nine and 10 drowned in a pond in a paddy field in Khon Buri district of Nakhon Ratchasima.
The bodies were retrieved from the pond at Buwa village in tambon Sra Wan Phraya by a team of rescue workers, said Pol Lt Withawat Kukhonthapong, a duty officer at Khon Buri police station.
The victims were identified as Pornpawee Deema, nine, Piyachat Nonnok, nine, and 10-year-old twin sisters Suparanand and Supakorn Pattananukul. All were classmates in Pathom Suksa 3 at Ban Buwa School, Thai media reported.
Relatives told police that village children often played in the pond during the hot season. The four girls had gone to the pond at noon on Friday. A neighbour called police later in the afternoon after spotting four pairs of sandals near the pond but no sign of the girls.
Their bodies were sent to Khon Buri Hospital for a post-mortem to establish the official cause of death.
More than 100 children and students yesterday took part in a disaster prevention training exercise in Kham Thale So district.
Kham Thale So mayor Manot Malikhao said he hoped more young people would become aware of drowning.
