Jocelyn and Shaylyn Spurlock had wandered away from their grandparent's home in Indiana, America where they were staying.
The family launched a frantic search, shouting and finding toys the toddlers had dropped in the nearby woods.
But, tragically the inseparable two-year-olds were found together having drowned in rain water which had gathered in a neighbour’s pool cover.
And they were still holding hands.
Their devastated grandfather Jim Conley, 65, told NBC affiliate KSHB: “They were holding hands and lying side by side.”
The girls, who loved angels, were buried together holding hands in one coffin which was decorated with angels. And they were dressed in the flower-girl dresses they had worn at the wedding of their mother and father - just two days before their tragic death.
“To see them two lying in the coffin side by side holding hands... it was so hard to see it because they were just so full of life,” their grandfather added.
“They were never, ever apart - if one walked off, the other one would catch up. We brought two beds to the house and they would only sleep in one.
“They were my precious little babies, and they’re gone now."
Photos obtained from WLWT.com.