The deceased siblings Abdul Aziz (12), and eight-year-old twins Abdul Karim and Abdul Rahim were playing cricket on the banks of the river around 1.30 pm when Rahim accidentally lost his footing and fell into the water-filled ditch and started drowning. In order to save him, his elder brother Aziz entered the waters. However, he too began to go under. Karim too then dived in, and also lost his life. Their fourth sibling Abdul Haq — Aziz’s twin — who was also playing with them, gauged the depth of the water and ran out to call his parents at their house nearby. However, till the time help could reach, all the three children had drowned.

u00a0
When tragedy struck: The twins died after falling in theu00a015-ft trench on the banks of the Mithi river. pics/Vijay Bate