Two four-year-old boys drowned after falling into an underground water storage tank at a house under construction near Velankanni in Nagapattinam district on Tuesday.

Police identified the deceased as K. Praveensai of Keelakkaraiyiruppu on Sikkal–Avarani Main Road, and S. Pavansai, a relative from the same locality. The two children had gone to stay at the house of their grandfather, Bharathi Mohan, at Sikkal Pathu near Velankanni about a week ago for school holidays.

According to police, the boys had gone out to play near the house on Tuesday evening. As they did not return for a long time, family members launched a search in the neighbourhood. The children were later found drowned in a water storage tank measuring around seven feet deep and four feet long that had been constructed on the ground at a nearby house belonging to a woman identified as Chellammal, where construction work was under way.

The bodies were recovered and sent to the Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. Velankanni police have registered a case and are investigating the incident.