5 and 7-year-old siblings found drowned in a dam

André and Odete de Vries were left devastated when the bodies of their two young children were recovered from a dam on farmland near their home. Dameon and Kaylie de Vries were thought to be asleep in their home all afternoon. By the time the parents realised the children were missing, it was too late to save them. The tragedy has added to the string of deaths involving children in the area.

On Sunday, July 19, the small family in the village of Baardskeerdersbos, South Africa were in their home. The parents thought that the small children had been napping. When they went to check on the children, they realised that the seven-year-old boy and the five-year-old girl were missing. André and Odete started searching for the children. Other family members from around Baardskeerdersbos near Gansbaai joined the search. Local authorities in the province of Western Cape were also notified.

The parents had realised that the children were missing at around 4 pm local time. The search party continued looking for the children until around 8 pm. Their search came to a heartbreaking end when the bodies of the two children were discovered 20 metres from their home.

Dameon and Kaylie had apparently wandered off unnoticed by their family. They fell into a dam on Vlooikraal farm. Unable to escape from the water, the children drowned before they could be found. Some of the children's belongings were also found close to where they drowned.

Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana revealed that the police were notified of an incident of drowning around 7:45 pm local time. The police launched an investigation into the deaths of the children to determine the events leading up to the incident. The community in Gansbaai were shocked by the news of the deaths.

News24 pointed out that the siblings' unfortunate demise came after the accidental death of a 10-year-old boy in the same community. The child identified as Jayden Montagu fell into the Gansbaai harbour from the harbour wall and drowned on June 17. His body was recovered the next day.