Two eight-year-old second-grade students drowned in a pond in Mehendiganj upazila of Barishal on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Nahian, son of Jahangir Sardar of Kharki area, and Yakub, son of Yusuf Talukdar of the same area. Both were students of Kharki Government Primary School.
The tragic incident occurred in the Kharki area of the municipality on Sunday afternoon, said Mehendiganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Momin Uddin.
According to local residents and the victims' families, Nahian and Yakub went to school together on Sunday morning as usual. The school was dismissed around 12:45 pm., but they did not return home. As they remained missing for several hours, family members began searching for them.
After about five hours, locals found their shoes near a pond ghat on the southern side of Kharki Government Primary School around 5pm. Later, some residents entered the pond and recovered the bodies.
The loss of the two boys who were clearly close friends has plunged the area around Kharki into sorrow.
OC Momin Uddin said no one had yet filed a report with the police station.
Further action would be taken after an investigation into the incident.