Killer Asia floods swallow children who can't swim

Women carrying their children wade through a flooded street in Pathum Thani province
Women carrying their children wade through a flooded street in Pathum Thani province on the outskirts of Bangkok October 12, 2011. Thailand's prime minister warned businesses on Wednesday not to take advantage of flooding around the country to push up prices as residents of Bangkok cleared supermarket shelves, worried that the capital could be swamped in coming days. At least 281 people have been killed by heavy monsoon rain, floods and mudslides since late July and 26 of Thailand's 77 provinces are inundated, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER) (REUTERS)

Children make up around a quarter of the nearly 800 deaths reported since July across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, according to the United Nations — mostly because the majority of kids simply never learn to swim.