POLOKWANE - The police in Mphepu outside Makhado have opened inquest dockets after three children, aged between three and four, drowned in the local swimming pool at Tshituni Tsha Fhasi village at about 5.15pm on Friday afternoon, the SAPS in Limpopo said.

It was alleged that the three toddlers, who lived in the same street just next to the swimming pool premises, were playing when they wandered off and gained access to the premises unnoticed and "advanced to a swimming pool", Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said in a statement on Saturday.

"The elder brother of one of the children got frightened when he could not see them and decided to trace them. He then made the horrific discovery of the three children, unconscious, floating in the swimming pool. He immediately alerted his mother, who reacted swiftly. The children were rushed to the local clinic. Sadly, they were all certified dead on arrival."

Police had opened three cases of inquest and investigations into the matter were continuing, Ngoepe said.

Meanwhile, the body of an eight-year-old boy was found in the Rietspruit River in Thatchfield in Centurion, Pretoria, on Saturday morning, paramedics said.