Residents of Ashaley Botwe Lakeside in Accra woke up early Sunday to the sad and shocking spectacle of the bodies of four children floating in a gutter in the community. The children, who are believed to have drowned, have been identified as Angel Agbenya, 9; Kwabena Badu, 1O; Richmond Annah, 11, and Frederick Aboagye, 10. They were reported missing on Saturday afternoon after they failed to return home from playing in the vicinity. The police made frantic efforts to find them, until the bodies were found floating in the gutter Sunday morning. The sad incident threw the community into a state of mourning. The parents of the deceased children broke down in tears when the Daily Graphic visited them in their homes, at a time when friends and sympathisers had also gathered to console the families of the deceased. According to the Adentan District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Steven Kofi Ahiatafu, the parents of the four children had reported to the Adenta Police at 3 p.m. on Saturday that their children were missing, after which the police advised them to cause an announcement to be made on an Accra-based radio station. Thereafter, the police mounted a search for the children but they did not succeed in finding them, until this morning when their bodies were found in the gutter. According to Mr Ahiatafu, the police decided to conduct a search at the various playgrounds where the children were believed to have gone to play on Saturday. "We were also told that whenever it rained, the children went to fish in water bodies. We, therefore, decided to extend the search to different water bodies at Ashaley Botwe," he said. He said after hours of search, the police had information that the attire belonging to one of the children, Richmond, had been found at Japan Motors at Ashalley Botwe. He said when the police arrived at the place, they discovered the bodies of the four children in the gutter. At the residences of the bereaved families, the parents of the four children were arranging a meeting to decide their next line of action. They, however, appealed to the police to speed up investigations for them to bury their children early since, the children were too young for their bodies to be kept in the mortuary. Asked whether she suspected any foul play, Richmond's mother, Madam Doris Fiagbe, responded in the negative, saying that she had no problem with any neighbour. According to her, she and the other parents had met at 3 p.m Sunday after they had been told by neighbours that they (the neighbours) had seen the four kids playing together. Madam Fiagbe said Richmond had left the house at 1 p.m. on Saturday to collect his schoolbag, although she insisted he should not go. She said after 3 p.m., she started looking for the whereabouts of her child, only to be told by a neighbour that he had been found in the company of three other children. According to her, the four parents met together to report the case to the police. Madam Fiagbe said at 7 a.m Sunday, a friend called to inform her that the attire Richmond had worn on Saturday had been found in a gutter near Japan Motors. "When I arrived at the place, I saw the bodies of my son and the three other children," she said. Meanwhile, the bodies of the four children have been deposited at the Police Hospital for post-mortem.