CASS COUNTY, Texas — The bodies of three young girls who had been reported missing Friday evening were recovered early Saturday from a private pond in Cass County, Texas.
According to KTAL-TV, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for Cass County began searching the property for the children at around 9:30 p.m.
The bodies of the girls – who have been identified by officials as 9-year-old Zi’ariel Oliver, 8-year-old Amiyah Hughes and 5-year-old Temari Oliver – were recovered at around 2 a.m. Saturday, KSLA reported.
“We located items of clothing around a pond and in a pond. So, we centered the search around that small body of water, and with the use of divers we were able to recover three victims at approximately 2 a.m. this morning,” Texas Game Warden Shawn Hervey told the TV station.
According to KTAL, officials could not immediately confirm if all three children were related, if they frequently played at the pond – located on the neighboring property – or if the children knew how to swim.
“That is unknown, whether they were swimmers or not. None of them had life jackets on, so I don’t know how strong of swimmers they were or if were swimmers at all,” Lt. Game Warden Jason Jones told the TV station.
The circumstances of the incident are under investigation, KSLA reported.
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