Two girls died after being trapped in a box while playing hide-and-seek on April 2 in Longchang county, Sichuan province, a report of Huaxi Metropolis Daily says on Tuesday.

Zhou Liya, 9, was visiting her cousin Zhang Yue, also 9, on April 2. She telephoned her father Zhou Shijian around 12:40 pm, about not going home for lunch. Zhou Li, mother of Zhang Yue and aunt of Zhou Liya, found that the children were not at home when she got back about 6 pm that evening. She then confirmed that the two girls were not at her sister's home, either. Then days of searching began.

The two desperate families tried all possible means to find the girls, even turning to social media Weibo. However, after several days, the parents still had no rest.

On April 7, the girls' bodies were discovered by Zhang Daoyin, Zhang Yue's father, while he was looking for some maintenance tools in his own home. He says that he smelled something decaying and found the girls trapped in boxes.

Zhang suspected they had died of suffocation. But the local police said the reason of their death was still unclear as the autopsy results were not available as of the report was out.