Five-year-old Bairon Valdez, his four-year-old brother Roman Valdez and their four-year-old cousin Josue Caceres were discovered dead in a municipal reservoir in Corzuela, Chaco Province, after they vanished from their grandmother's home on Sunday.
The trio had been staying at the grandmother's house while the brothers' father was away visiting a sick relative. He returned around 7.30 pm and found the children missing.
The grandmother said she had no idea where the three youngsters had gone. Their father began searching himself before notifying Corzuela police, who launched a large-scale search involving officers, volunteers and firefighters.
Witnesses said they saw the children near a municipal reservoir at the junction of Lavalle Street and Urquiza Avenue. Local reports placed the basin about 500 ft from the grandmother's home.
Police chief Fernando Romero said officers first recovered one child, with firefighters locating the other two shortly after. He told local media, "At first, we could say that the children drowned, but we are not ruling out any other hypothesis."
Prosecutor Gabriela Rafart Anton, leading the investigation, arrived with a judicial assistant and a forensic expert. She said relatives are being questioned and that further tests are needed before any criminal responsibility can be assigned.
The reservoir is a fenced, illuminated municipal water facility. Investigators are checking whether the children could have entered by squeezing beneath the bars and are reviewing CCTV footage, including a camera that may have captured the children playing nearby.
