A brother and sister tragically drowned in a pond in Stung Treng province’s Thala Borivat district on Tuesday as they went to wash clothing, authorities said yesterday.

Sam Ang commune police chief Kong Sena said Khun Chandy, 18, had drowned after entering the water in an attempt to save her younger brother, Khun Sokna, aged 13.

Sena said that according to their older sister, Khun Chenda, 22, the pair had taken armfuls of blankets and clothes to wash in a basin with water gathered from the 4-metre-deep pond, just 70 metres behind their home.

Half an hour later, Sena said, Chenda heard the faint scream of her sister, saying, “Sister, please help our brother, he slipped into the pond.”

“She heard the scream a few times and she hurriedly ran to her parents and villagers, but when they arrived at the pond, both of them had disappeared,” Sena said.

He said that the children’s father and some villagers jumped into the pond and brought Chandy’s and Sokna’s lifeless bodies to shore, with the family preparing a funeral yesterday.