The two young boys who drowned in a private swimming pool at a house near Newry yesterday afternoon have been named.
They were two-year-old David Smith, and four-year-old Shea Laverty, who was due to celebrate his fifth birthday next week.
Both lived close to each other at Ardaveen Mews, a relatively new housing estate off the Dublin Road.
It is believed they wandered into the pool area of a neighbour's house.
It is also believed David's father had gone to the house and had tried to rescue the boys from the disused pool, which contained water in the deep end.
Police are still trying to establish the exact circumstances of the deaths.
Post mortem examinations are expected to be carried out on the bodies of the boys later today.
The boys were taken to the local Daisy Hill Hospital, where a medical team spent several hours trying to revive them.
A local priest, Fr Richard Naughton, who visited the homes of the bereaved, said that the entire community is stunned by the tragedy.
Two local MLAs, the Ulster Unionist, Danny Kennedy and Davy Hyland of Sinn Féin have also expressed sympathy to the families.
