An Egyptian farmer pushed his three young daughters into an irrigation canal in southern Egypt yesterday, then puffed on a cigarette as he watched them drown, a deputy prosecutor said. Anwar Abdel Sattar, 35, fled afterwards, according to Khaled El Taher, deputy prosecutor of Barkheel village, near Sohag town, 390km south of Cairo. The girls' uncle, Ahmed Metwali, informed the police of the crime yesterday, saying his sister and her husband had a fight earlier in the day about family expenses. According to El Taher, Metwali said his brother-in-law later took his daughters - eight-year-old Hanan, five-year-old Aya, and four-year-old Abeer- to buy candy. Authorities said witnesses saw Sattar throw his daughters into the canal then watch them drowning while he smoked a cigarette. They said he then fled from the scene.