A two-year-old girl has drowned in a bucket of water after she got her hands dirty and her mother asked her to wash them.

The victim has been named as Gabriela Silva Macedo, 2, and she was found lifeless in the incident that took place in Baixio, which is a rural area in the municipality of Padre Marcos, which is located in the Brazilian state of Piaui, early in the afternoon on Sunday 19th December.

Gabriela is said to have got her hands dirty and her mother, who has not been named, asked her to wash them. She is then understood to have ventured off unsupervised to wash her hands.

After noticing her absence after a few minutes, her family members, none of whom have been named, reportedly went looking for the child, who was found lying lifeless in the bucket of water, having apparently drowned, according to reports.

The child was taken to the local Municipal Hospital by her distraught family members, where medics pronounced her dead. It is currently unclear how big the bucket was and how deep it was.

News of her death spread quickly, according to local media reports, and prompted local people to gather in front of the hospital where the tot died to mourn the young girl’s passing.

It is currently unclear if police have initiated an investigation and if any arrests have been made. It is also unclear if the young girl’s body will be examined forensically to establish a cause of death.