'Surprisingly, the kindergarten is small, only 50 children attend it, the room is small, it is impossible not to notice anything.'

The girls left the Tullukchaan kindergarten at Namtsy village, Yakutia, without staff noticing - which is now the subject of an urgent investigation.

A video shows the girls slipping out of the door unseen by teachers or staff.

One girl is now in hospital in regional capital Yakutsk with three fingers frostbitten.

The other got lost on the way home and took shelter in the nearest house.

She suffered from hypothermia but was able to return home after being checked by doctors.

Evdokia Kutukova, whose daughter Lena is frostbitten, said: ‘Three of her fingers froze hard. She is crying.

‘The children are still in shock.’

Pictures shows the girls slipping out of the door unseen by teachers or staff.

She had gone to the kindergarten at 5pm, earlier than usual.

She noticed immediately her daughter’s warm winter coat was missing.

‘I ran to the teacher, she said: 'It seems that she was just here'.

‘She ran to check the peg of Lena's best friend - also empty.

‘I called her parents, hoping they took both girls.

‘They did not know anything.

‘We all started to panic.

‘Then our grandfather called and said that Lena had just come home alone, all in tears, frozen.

‘I immediately ran home.

‘I took her and ran to the Namsky hospital, then here, to Yakutsk…

‘The other girl was found only an hour later.

‘She entered some other house after getting lost.

‘Thank God, she guessed to enter someone else's house.

‘It is good that she was not frostbitten, just extremely cold.’

Tullukchaan kindergarten which attend the girls.

The other explained: 'The girls decided to give their parents a surprise and come home by themselves.’

They chose one of the coldest days of winter in the world’s iciest inhabited region. They had never left before.

‘They love their kindergarten, and have been going here for two years.

‘Lena had mittens in her pocket, but she did not wear them.

‘She has a jacket with long sleeves.

‘If it were not for them, everything could be worse.

'Our home is in a 15-minute walk of an adult, but it is a village here, all dark.

'Surprisingly, the kindergarten is small, only 50 children attend it, the room is small, it is impossible not to notice anything.

‘The management promised to take action.’

The temperature dropped to minus 45 degrees Celsius that days.

Her husband said that a passing stranger had tied a scarf for their daughter which had helped her.

‘How cold it was without gloves, it's hard to imagine, and with a toy in hand!

‘People, be kinder, do not pass by small children on the street in the dark when you see them alone.

‘Daughter, be strong, you are so strong, smart, love you very much, proud. Get well, really miss you.'

The Investigative Committee is probing the incident to examine if there was criminal negligence by kindergarten staff.