Police: ‘No foul play in drowning deaths of three young boys’

APOST-MORTEMexamination on the three children who died from drowning on Monday in Boeung Preav commune’s Boeung Preav village revealed no signs of foul play, said Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district police on Tuesday.

SreAmbeldistrictpolicechief Teng Khean told The Post that the victims – Choeurn Reaksa, male, seven; Chet Virin, male, five; and Chhai Sieveu, female, three – were residents of the commune.

“Forensics experts and doctors have conducted a postmortem examination on the bodies of the three victims. But they did not find any signs of murder,” he said.

According to resident Sin Van Din, Reaksa was a Grade 2 student of Boeung Preav Primary School. His parents, who are construction workers, had gone to work all day and did not return home until evening.

On the day of the incident, the victims were last seen taking a stroll but were nowhere to be seen by noon. As the three had a habit of wandering outside their homes, their absence did not alarm anyone.

Van Din said that at 2pm, a man named Ra Sam claimed that his nephew was missing and asked the villagers to help search for him. Unable to find the boy, the villagers agreed to search along streams where the bodies of the three victims were eventually found, 200m from the village.

Forensics experts and doctors have conducted an examination and did not find any signs of murder

“When they found the victims, their bodies were still warm. The villagers thought that they could still be alive and transported them to a referral hospital in the district. Upon arrival, the victims were declared dead,” he said.

Khean stressed that the stream was about 1.50m deep and due to their young age, the victims were unable to swim to safety.

Villagers suspect that one of the three must have drowned first and, upon seeing their companion, the two tried to help causing all three to drown.