Three small children died Saturday (January 21) evening after falling through ice on a frozen artificial pond in Balkhob village of Muminobod district in the southern province of Khatlon.

According to the Emergencies Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, the tragedy took place at around 5:30 pm.  Three small boys (two of them were five-year-old and one of them was four-year-old) were playing on a frozen pond when ice cracked and they went under water.  

“All three died of hypothermia,” an official source within the Emergencies Committee told Asia-Plus Monday morning.  

A similar incident happened recently in Hisor district.   Brother and sister, residents of the village of Gajak, fell through ice when crossing the frozen Khonaqoh River.

“The neighbors managed to save the boy, but the girl, unfortunately, could not be saved,” the source said, noting that her body was found almost three hours later, 30 meters from the scene of the incident.