PHNOM PENH, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Four children, aged between three and five years old, drowned in a pond near their houses in southern Cambodia's Takeo province, a local police chief said on Friday.
Ngan Sary, the police chief of Takeo province's Baty district, said the incident occurred in the late afternoon of Thursday and blamed the tragedy to their grandmother's carelessness.
"Three little girls and a little boy were found dead in a pond about 200 meters from their houses," he told Xinhua. "After examining their bodies, we concluded that they died of drowning."
The victims were second cousins, Sary said, adding that the victims' parents left the kids at home with their grandma when they went out to work, and the grandma kept those children at home alone when she went to a festival in the village.
Drownings occur very often in Cambodia, especially in rural areas.
On June 8, four children, aged between 10 and 13 years old, also drowned in a pit in southeastern Kampong Cham province's Stung Trang district.
