KASUR: Three siblings were among four children, who drowned in a rainwater pond in the Changa Manga Forest near village Veer Singh on Tuesday.
According to police, the children had come from Toba Tek Singh to spend their summer vacation at the home of their maternal grandmother at village Veer Singh.
Police said locals had dug an eight-to-10-foot-deep pond in the forest to collect rainwater for livestock.
On the day of the incident, the elders of the family had gone into the forest to collect firewood.
During their absence, the children went to the pond for bathing.
The victims were identified as Faizan (9), Hadia Bibi (11) and Muhammad Murad (12), all children of Muhammad Akbar of Toba Tek Singh, and their cousin Imran (12).
Reports said the children jumped one after the other in the pond to bath.
When family members returned from the forest, they found the bodies floating on the surface of the pond and alerted rescuers.
Rescue 1122 teams rushed to the scene and retrieved the bodies from the water. The bodies were later shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital for postmortem examination.
Police said after the completion of legal formalities, the bodies were handed over to the bereaved families. The bodies of the three siblings were sent to Toba Tek Singh for burial.
Correspondent