PHNOM PENH, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A mother and her two children as well as her niece had drowned in the Mekong River in Southeastern Cambodia's Kampong Cham province, according to a police report released to the media on Sunday.

The incident took place late Saturday afternoon when they played in the waters near an island in the Mekong River in Kang Meas district, said the report of the Kampong Cham Provincial Police Commissariat.

The report said before the incident, two Cambodian Muslim families with eight members rode their wooden motorboat to play in the waters near the island and four drowned while playing in the waters.

There were only the two families playing in the waters at the time of incident, the report said, blaming carelessness for the tragedy.

The victims included a 35-year-old mother, her two children, aged five and 12 years old, and her eight-year-old niece, the report said, adding that three bodies were found soon after the incident, as the fourth one was recovered on Sunday morning.

Drownings are not uncommon in the Southeast Asian nation, especially in rural areas.