Two children drawn at sea in north east Choiseul: Police investigates

Taro police are investigating two children who were drawn at sea in Pongoe in north Choiseul on 1 May 2025.

The investigation revealed that the 4-year-old deceased was one who had been taken care of by his granny while her mother went out when the incident occurred.

While the second deceased was a 4-year-old girl. She was last seen on the beach in front of the village who wanted to have a swim in the sea. Her mother was at home at the time of the incident.

Provincial Police Commander (PPC)Choiseul Province Superintendent Berry Pogesopa said on Friday, 2 May 2025 police team arrived at Panqoe village just after the burial of the two kids and caused a general inquiry at the community concerning the incident.

PPC Pogesopa said the team met with both the deceased's family and collected their statements and later attended to the nurse in charge of the Panqoe clinic who attended to the deceased.

Mr. Pogesopa says around 3pm in the afternoon, parents of the deceased started to look for their child but were unable to locate them. The community was alerted and conducted a search for the missing children and located them but they were already dead.

The police chief said it was a sad incident and should not be happening to our children if we parent really stay close with our children. Police are looking at laying a charge for negligence on both parents, but it depends much on the investigation on the drawn incident.