A sombre mood on  Wednesday  morning engulfed  residents of Masula village in the area of Traditional Authority  (T.A) Kayembe in Dowa after four children died after a wall fell on them as they were extracting clay from an earth mound.

According to Mponera police spokesperson Kondwani Kandiado, the four deceased are all girls between the ages of  4-5 years.

Kandiado explained that  on November 14 this year around 8:00 am the children left their homes to search for clay at a time when their parents were away.

When they arrived at the mound, the children started playing and entered the cave dug on the mound when suddenly the walls fell on all of them and they died on the spot.

“A cowboy who was passing by the area of the incident alerted villagers having noticed that the walls has fallen and elbow of a human being was protruding from the rubble.

“Villagers had to rush to the scene of the incident in a desperate attempt to rescue the four children”, Kandiado said.

He added; “The villagers had to evacuate the children and rushed them to Nambuma Mission hospital where hospital officials confirmed that the four children had died due to suffocation”.

Meanwhile, police are advising parents to take care of their children to avoid a repeat of such an incident.

The deceased hailed from Masula village in T.A Kayembe in Dowa.