Young Sisters Drown in Septic Pit Tragedy Bella Vista

We begin tonight with heartbreaking news out of Bella Vista Village in the Toledo District. A family is grappling with unimaginable loss after two young sisters, just seven and eight years old, tragically drowned in an open septic pit on a private property. Angie and Laury Pimentel were sent on a simple errand to their grandmother’s house, but they never made it. What followed was a frantic search that ended in devastation. News Five’s Tanya Arceo traveled south this morning and brings the following story.

 

Tanya Arceo, Reporting

It was just after four o’clock on Monday afternoon when tragedy struck in Bella Vista Village. Seven-year-old Laury and eight-year-old Angie Pimentel were sent on a quick errand to their grandmother’s house nearby, but they never made it back. As minutes turned into panic, their mother, Delmy Argueta, began searching. What she found was every parent’s worst nightmare, her daughters had drowned in an open septic pit.

 

Delmy Argueta, Mother of Drowning Victims

“I sent them on an errand to my mother’s house, but they didn’t go there. Instead, they went to the pit and hid their bicycles. One of them took off her clothes, perhaps to take a bath in secret. I don’t know what happened to the other one, but when my mother found the bicycles, she called me. I went and jumped into the pool and pulled out the first one, and then I found the other one. After about half an hour, when they hadn’t come back, I sent someone to look for them and called my mom to see if they had arrived there, and she told me she hadn’t seen them. They went out to look at the house that was being built and found the bicycles hidden inside. They found the youngest girl’s clothes”.

 

The girls were supposed to be heading to their grandmother’s house, but they never made it inside. Instead, they wandered near a construction site, where an open septic pit sat uncovered. Their grandmother, Ligia Contreras, knew something was wrong when she spotted one of the girls’ slippers nearby. Her heart sank and her worst fears were confirmed.

 

Ligia Contreras, Grandmother of Drowning Victims

“I found a stick, I stuck it in, I felt there was something there, and I called out to her to hurry up because they had fallen into the well. When I saw that the bicycles were inside that house, I saw her slippers and her little clothes, so I quickly grabbed the stick and stuck it where I stuck it. I felt there was something inside.”

 

We spoke with the girls’ father at the cemetery. He is still trying to come to terms with the unimaginable loss. He says this tragedy should be a wake-up call. More needs to be done to prevent accidents like this, and he’s urging property owners to take responsibility when digging dangerous pits. Leaving them uncovered, he says, is a risk no family should have to face.

 

Selvin Pimentel, Father of Drowning Victims

“I have something to say. When we have a construction project, please, as I tell many people, even if an old man is drunk when he opens his pit, he closes it with anything. Other people just open the pits and leave them there.” 0When my wife called me while I was working, she said, “Selvin, something terrible has happened.” “What happened?” I asked. “Angie and Laury drowned,” she said. “Don’t joke like that,” I told her. A little while ago the property owner where the pit is left me four bars of steel. I told him I didn’t need them. Do you think four bars are worth your daughters’ lives? Of course not.”

 

We attempted to contact the owners of the property but were not successful. Tanya Arceo for News Five.