Four children had gone near ponds to play and bathe. Soon they were found floating lifeless

Locals find their bodies floating on water after the children went to play and bathe

Two brothers and two cousins have drowned in separate pond incidents in Shariatpur and Narayanganj, police have said.

The deaths occurred on Thursday afternoon in the two districts.

In Shariatpur’s Bhedarganj Upazila, two cousins -- 7-year-old Ridam and 8-year-old Rifat -- died after drowning in a pond in Saygaon Union. They were both identified by single names.

Police said the children were playing football near the pond when the ball fell into the water. While attempting to retrieve it, both slipped in and drowned.

Bhedarganj Police chief Abul Bashar said the children had been missing since 12pm, prompting a family search.

They were later found floating in the pond and reported to police.

A police team was sent to the scene and legal procedures are under way, he said.

In a separate incident in Narayanganj’s Araihazar Upazila, two brothers drowned in a pond while visiting their maternal grandparents in Highjadi union during the Eid holidays.

Araihazar Police chief Sabjel Hossain said the victims were sons of Abu Siddique, a resident of Rupganj Upazila.

He identified them as 7-year-old Safwan, a first-grader, and 11-year-old Akibul, a madrasa student -- also identified with single names.

The boys went to the pond for a bath around 12pm shortly before the incident.

Relatives later found them floating and pulled them out of the water, then rushed them to Araihazar Upazila Health Complex, where doctors declared them dead, he said.

Police said the bodies were handed over to the family for burial without postmortems as no complaint was filed.