Two minor girls drown in lake

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Two minor girls who are cousins drowned in a lake in Dandiganahalli on the outskirts of Chikkaballapur, the Manchenahalli police said on Sunday.

The victims, Alia Patel and Zoya Patel from Mumbai, both aged 14, had come to their relative Shabbir Ahmed alias Hussain Saab’s house in Gauribidanur during their summer vacation. They were supposed to return home in two days.

On Saturday, their relatives took them for a picnic and were busy serving lunch on the banks of the lake in the afternoon when Alia and Zoya ventured into the water to play and slipped.

They did not know how to swim, and they drowned. Their relatives cried for help and, along with locals, pulled them out and rushed them to Manchenahalli government hospital, but by then, it was too late. The Manchenahalli police registered a case of unnatural death and handed over the bodies of the duo after post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death and ruled out any foul play