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Bodies Of 2 Brothers Found In Pond

LAKE TWP. (WWJ/AP) - Two brothers, ages 7 and 9, apparently drowned accidentally in a recently dug pond on their family farm in West Michigan, authorities said Friday.

The boys were found Thursday evening in the spring-fed pond beside a house in Lake Township, Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson told the Ludington Daily News. Carr Fire Chief Bruce Burke identified the boys as Leander Troyer and his older brother, Jethro.

"It looks like one fell in and the other probably went in to save him," Burke, who is a farmer and knew the boys' family, told the newspaper. "It's just hard to say. They're just typical 7- and 9-year-old boys, just doing what they do, out and about playing. ... There's just no way of knowing what really happened," he said.

Robinson said authorities are considering the deaths accidental drownings.

"They had their clothes on," Robinson told the Ludington Daily News. "I don't think they intended to go swimming."

Robinson said the boys didn't come home on time, so their parents went looking for them and eventually found them in the farm pond, about 70 miles northeast of Grand Rapids.

Jethro and Leander were the oldest of the family's four boys, the Daily News reported.

The water in the pond, which is seven to eight feet deep, was measured at 49 degrees Thursday, Robinson said.

An investigation is ongoing.

TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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