Police in Mogoditshane are investigating a case in which four pupils at Dihutso Primary School drowned on Thursday afternoon in a dug-up hole filled with water.
Mogoditshane Police Station Commander, Superintendent Nkwebi Chilisa, said there is some construction going on at the yard where the children drowned and estimated the hole to be about 3m deep and 4m wide.
“When the Police attended the scene, they found four children dead,” said Chilisa. “Three of them, two males and one female, are reported to be from one family and the fourth one is a male family friend to the other three.”
Police say the eldest child was 13 years old, the other 11 and the other two both eight years of age.
“The circumstances are that these four young fellows were from school and they took off their school uniform and got into the nearby yard in Nkoyaphiri. We do not know what could have happened. An alarm was raised by a fellow who was with the four that actually drowned,” added Chilisa.
It is reported that there was no one at the site when the incident took place and people nearby rushed to the scene. The children were confirmed dead upon arrival at Princess Marina Hospital.
Chilisa confirmed to The Telegraph that the investigations are still going on.
“At this point in time we are still in consultation with the parents of the children while postmortem reports are pending,” said Chilisa.
The children stayed only a few meters from where they drowned.
Chilisa appealed to parents in general to always closely monitor their children’s movements, particularly the younger ones.
