Three cousins drowned at a sightseeing spot along the Kravanh River in Pursat province on Saturday evening while their parents were busy eating and drinking on the river’s beach, authorities said.

“While their parents were grilling meat and drinking on the beach, the three [children] went swimming, fell into a deep hole and drowned,” said Phnom Kravanh district police deputy chief Chert Sambath. “It is the result of carelessness on behalf their parents.”

The victims’ names were Chheun Kemyeng, 13, Rin Richer, 6, and Ly Meng, 6, said Sambath, who added that their parents were teachers living in the province’s Trapaing Chong commune in Bakan district.

Teab Kalyan, Richer’s mother, said that while the adults were socialising, they heard screams that three children had drowned. They began to yell for their children, but they could not find them.

The adults then ran to where people had gathered near the children’s bodies floating in the river, she said. “When I arrived at the site, I was shocked since those kids were my son and my nieces,” she said.

Authorities examined the bodies and handed them to their parents for traditional funerals, which were held yesterday. Kalyan herself said that her and the other parents’ carelessness had led to the children’s deaths.