Two young sisters in Belize have died after allegedly getting inside a septic tank. Construction was taking place in their area, leaving the pit exposed. Water was inside the pit, which was apparently appealing. Lauri and Anllely Pimentel Argueta made their way inside, but they could not make it back out. Now, their family is using their tragic deaths to highlight the importance of construction site safety. They are hoping that this preventable incident will remind people about being responsible.
About 5 p.m. July 21, 2025, the bodies of 7-year-old Lauri and 8-year-old Anllely were found in a septic pit in Bella Vista, in the Toledo district, Greater Belize reported. The girls were supposed to be running an errand to their grandmother’s house, but they allegedly wandered onto a construction site. The septic pit had been left uncovered, allowing them to get inside.
When they didn’t come back, their family went out looking for them. “I sent someone to look for them,” the girls’ mother, Delmy Argueta, told Greater Belize. “They went out to look at the house that was being built and found the bicycles hidden inside.” The clothes of the younger girl were also found.
Ligia Contreras, the girls’ grandmother, found a stick near the site and knew something was wrong. “When I saw that the bicycles were inside that house, I saw her slippers and her little clothes, so I quickly grabbed the stick and stuck it where I stuck it. I felt there was something inside,” she said.
The village chairman, Jose Morales, spoke with Love FM, sharing what he had learned about the girls’ deaths. He explained that the bodies had already been taken and police were on the scene when he arrived. According to Morales, he was allegedly told by the girls’ parents that the younger girl wanted to “take a shower” in the water. She began to drown, so her older sister went into the water to try to rescue her. Sadly, they both drowned.
“People take advantage of the dry season to do septics,” he explained. “They cannot finish it or cover it before the rainy season starts because it causes flooding and when it’s already full with water they cannot stick blocks – they cannot finish.”
Selvin Pimentel, Lauri and Anllely’s father, implored those who were building structures to be more careful.
“Other people just open the pits and leave them there,” he said, per Greater Belize. He explained that “the property owner where the pit is left me four bars of steel. I told him I didn’t need them. Do you think four bars are worth your daughters’ lives? Of course not.”
Police are investigating the incident.
