HANOI, Feb 8, 2010 - A group of students whose overcrowded boat capsized were among eight Vietnamese who drowned in separate weekend water accidents, an official and state media said on Monday.

Three girls and one boy, all aged 17, drowned Sunday in the Tra Khuc river of central Quang Ngai province, said Bui Tan Luan, a commune official. ''The boat capsized as 11 students squeezed onto the vessel, which was supposed to be for eight people only,'' Luan said.

Further south in Binh Duong province, two female workers fell into a reservoir and drowned while two colleagues lost their lives in a rescue attempt, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

They were the latest of many deaths at the reservoir, which people continue to enter despite a fence and warning signs, the paper said.

The latest victims were factory workers from Ho Chi Minh City who had stopped to take photographs before heading north to celebrate the Lunar New Year festival, Tuoi Tre reported.