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Two sisters aged three and four years old have drowned in a backyard swimming pool.

Mum, Renise Young, tried desperately to save her girls. She jumped into the pool after her five-year-old son Aige raised the alarm on Tuesday afternoon.

“I was screaming and grabbing them and making sure their head was above the water and just yelling because there was nothing I could do,” Ms Young told The Courier-Mail.

Patricia, three, and Taya, four, drowned in the pool – which had a regulation fence – after lunch when they went to play in the backyard of their home in the suburb of Kingston.

Ms Young said she hear Aige crying for help and ran to find Patricia and Taya in the pool, unresponsive.

“All a mother could do when they see their baby like that is just scream at the top of their lungs,” she said.

Police are investigating whether the girls used a nearby outdoor chair or a trampoline to access the pool area.

UPDATE 3 November

Renise has issued a warning to parents in the wake of the tragic deaths.

“My advice to any mother and any family out there is to not own a house with a pool,” Ms Young said.

“No matter how old the kids are and how well you think you are looking after them – it is so dangerous.”

Ms Young told The Courier-Mail she has not been able to sleep since she pulled her daughters from the pool on Tuesday afternoon.

“We went to bed at 4am but even then we haven’t been able to get any sleep,” she said.

“We’re tired and exhausted. I’m really not too good because I’m the one that pulled the girls out of the pool – I keep getting flashes – it’s horrific.”

The mother-of-five believes the girls used furniture to climb over the pool fence.

“They brought one of the chairs from their own table and chair set and used that to climb over,” she said.

“Normally we have both the back and the front doors locked, knowing that there is a pool in the back yard. The lock broke a few days ago and this is what has happened in the space of a few days.”

Previously on this story…

Police were today called about 1.30pm after Taya and Patricia Young were pulled unconscious from the bottom of a pool at their Kingston home in Logan south of Brisbane, reports 9 news.

Attempts by family members and paramedics to revive the girls failed.

The backyard pool is fully fenced, and inspectors are assessing whether the fence was of an appropriate standard.

The girls’ grandfather, Peter Brown, told 9NEWS their mother had to dive to the bottom of the pool to get them out.

“They had regulation fencing so I don’t know how they got in,” Mr Brown said.

Police are investigating but are not treating the deaths as suspicious.

Oh my gosh, I could never imagine how a parent would feel after this tragedy. I hope they have a strong support network around them.

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  • I always longed for a pool. But I guess the plus side was that I never had to worry.
    I hope this poor woman found a way to heal

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  • Such a horrible tragic accident. Rest in peace girls.

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  • Such tragic news. My deepest sympathy to the Mum and family. RIP little angels

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  • Oh gosh this is very worrying and incredibly sad.

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  • This is so heartbreaking and such a terrible tragedy for this poor family. My thoughts are with them all.

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  • This story did freak my hubby and I out a little as we also have a four year old and a one year old too – I am looking into getting her swimming lessons this summer.

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  • Very sad. Our pool fence has a lock and I drill the kids constantly about never touching it without me. They also do 20 weeks swimming lessons a year and miss 3 is an amazing swimmer and can even tread water for a while and dive to the bottom but she never gets into the pool yard without me because of the key lock and constant water safety lectures from me.

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  • This is a horrible tragedy that no parent should have to face but it is more common than we think. My sons did the same by dragging a chair over to the pool fence in my backyard & I caught them with my neighbour’s kids climbing over a regulation fence which was supposed to keep them out. Luckily I looked out the window & busted them in the act or it could have been a horrible situation, even tho they could swim things can go wrong so quickly they would not have a chance.
    I can’t imagine how this family is going to be able to move forward from this after losing 2 precious little girls but I hope that they get the help needed to recover from this.

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  • Some little ones are very clever that pulling themselves up by wrapping their fingers and feet around the uprights (like a monkey does). I know one house where there is specially made extra thick glass instead of lots of uprights with a “film” that will prevent it from shattering as well as a gate with the lock up very high.

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  • So sad. I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost any of my children. My advice: swimming lessons from an early age. My 4 yr old can swim & could save herself when she was 3.

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  • Such a tragedy for this young mother and her family. Children do slip away, but you just have to be on your guard always and especially with a pool in your back-yard.

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  • How did this happen if they had a pool fence?

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  • What a horrible thing to happen! R.I.P. little ones

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  • What a tragedy, poor mother, her grief would be overwhelming!

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  • Oh! Poor little girls! How did they got in? :-(

    Reply

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