Family mourns its lost angels after sisters drown in backyard pool in Queensland

Patricia Young, 3, and Tara Young, 4, drowned in the backyard swimming pool. Photo / News Corp Australia

The mother of two girls who tragically drowned in the family backyard pool yesterday has described how she screamed for help but it was too late.

Mother-of-five Renise Young desperately tried to resuscitate her daughters Patricia, 3, and Taya, 4, after their brother Aige, 5, raised the alarm that the pair were in the pool at the back of their Kingston home in Logan City about 1.30pm.

Young said she heard Aige yelling for help and ran to find that two of her daughters had got through the pool gate and entered the water.

"All a mother could do when they see their baby like that is just scream at the top of their lungs," she said.

"I was screaming and grabbing them and making sure their head was above the water and just yelling because there was nothing I could do."

The family are devastated by the loss of their "beautiful daughters" in an accident that happened in minutes.

The trag­edy unfolded just after the family had finished lunch. When the girls went to play outside but could not be found, Young and husband Troy started searching for them.

Absolutely awful. Two young sisters have drowned in family pool at Kingston. @tennewsqld #TenNews pic.twitter.com/pwcmWMl50P

— Pippa Sheehan (@PipSheehan) November 1, 2016

Aige found his younger sisters in the pool soon after. Their parents frantically tried to revive the pair ­before paramedics arrived, but they were unsuccessful.

"We know (they are) at rest, they're at peace, they're not going to go through any pain, they're just sleeping," Young said.

Even as she grappled with the devastating events, Young said she wanted to thank the emergency services personnel who tried to save her children.

She said she was thankful for the support from friends and family as news of the deaths spread.

"We had people that we haven't even known very well ... just start breaking down and crying," she said.

JUST IN: Two sisters have drowned in a backyard pool at Kingston. More details to come. #9News pic.twitter.com/kethQk4TKZ

— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) November 1, 2016

Police are not treating the incident as suspicious but detectives and Logan City council inspectors spent the afternoon trying to determine how the pair were able to enter the pool area. Police took statements from Aige and both parents.

Family and friends gathered outside the home yesterday to support the parents and the other three children.

Young's sister-in-law Tamara Sengstock told The Courier-Mail that the family was shattered.

"They were beautiful little girls with a whole life ahead of them," she said.

"They had big hearts and loved everyone. They always were protective of each other.

"Renise and Troy are absolutely distraught and are trying to hold ­themselves together for her 5-year-old son, 1½-year-old daughter and few-months-old daughter."

- The Courier-Mail