Police in Qingdao, Shandong province, confirmed on Monday that 8-year-old twin girls who traveled from Beijing were found drowned.

The twins – Pei Yuanjin and Pei Yuantong, according to reports – had come to the coastal city with their mother, surnamed Sun, for a holiday.

A rescue team found the body of the elder twin around 11:30 am and the other at 3:45 pm in waters near the place the girls were reported missing.

According to Asia One, the bereaved mother said she lost sight of the girls on a beach in the city’s Huangdao district around 3 pm on Sunday as they were having fun digging in the sand just meters away from her. They were wearing swimming suits and had bare feet.

The mother said she would check her mobile phone from time to time as the girls were playing, but she looked up at some point and found that the girls were missing. After almost an hour of searching, she called the police.

Local police, nongovernmental rescue teams and volunteers launched a wide search for the missing girls at 5:30 pm on Sunday.