LIVE OAK, Fla. — Three children ages 1,4 and 6 playing outdoors were trapped and died inside an unplugged chest freezer in this small north Florida community Sunday. 

The Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office said the tragedy occurred at a home occupied by mothers of the victims. Two of the children were siblings.

The sheriff’s office said one of the mothers had been watching the children when she went inside the home to go to the bathroom. When she returned, the children were missing.

Sheriff Sam St. John said she alerted the other mother, who was asleep, and they searched the grounds, including a nearby vacant home, for the children. They then found them in the freezer, which had a hasp hinge than fell over the lock loop, trapping the kids inside. There was no padlock.

The mothers called 911 and were attempting to resucitate the children when first responders arrived. EMTs also tried to revive the children.

“It took an extended amount of time to find them and by the time the (the mothers) did, it was too late,” Sheriff Sam St. John said. “It’s just really, really heartbreaking.”

St. John said it apppeared to be “just a really horrific, terrible accident.” He said the case will be forwarded to the Third Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office for review and the Florida Department of Children and Families had also been notified.

Live Oak is a town of 6,800 people located 85 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida, near the Georgia state line.