PRACHIN BURI: Two children, a boy and a girl, drowned while looking for shellfish in a pond during a school vacation in Nadi district of this eastern province on Saturday, police said.
The tragedy occurred at about 5pm at a pond about 500 metres from Ban Khlong Ta Muen in tambon Thung Pho.
Pol Capt Yuthaphum Damrongtham, a Nadi police investigator, said that as dusk fell, rescue workers were able to resuscitate a 9-year-old girl, Mingkamol Ampatcha. Workers recovered the body of a 7-year-old boy, Danupat Chuangthip, while another girl, 9-year-old Duangdao Khunkrai, was missing. Her body was found at about 9pm.
A police investigation revealed that four pupils at Khlong Ta Muen Community School, one boy and three girls, had entered the pond at about 3pm to look for shellfish.
At about 5pm, one of the girls, Kamol Buasaeng, ran to the village for help, saying that her three friends were drowning.