Three college students drowned in a lake near a temple in Hyderabad, police said on Thursday, September 29. Belonging to a group of nine students, all pursuing a diploma in engineering, the three victims got into the Cheeryal lake for a swim after visiting the Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple on Wednesday, they said. One of them began going under the water and another tried to help him, but all three drowned, police said. Only two of the three knew how to swim, the police said. Efforts by other students to save those drowning were in vain, they said. The incident happened in Keesara police station limits under the Rachakonda police commissionerate. 

Though some local residents reached the spot to rescue, their effort was also unsuccessful, the police said. While one body was found the same day, two others were fished out on Thursday, they said. The three students of Teegala Krishna Reddy Engineering College in Saroornagar, Hyderabad, were identified as Hariharan (18), Ubaid (18) and Balaji (19), according to The New Indian Express. The students were also celebrating Ubaid’s birthday, according to reports. Balaji’s body was found on Wednesday, while the other two students’ bodies were found on Thursday. 

Earlier on September 26, three children drowned in a trench filled with rainwater in Telangana's Rangareddy district, near Shadnagar town. Police said the trench was dug in a real estate venture for some construction work and was filled with water due to recent rains. “We are not sure if the trench was dug up recently or if it was old. It was around five to six feet deep and about 20 feet wide. Three children — Fareed (13), Sahib (7) and Akshith (7) — got in to play or catch fish in the pit. They did not know how to swim. After one boy entered, two others held on to him, and all three slipped,” a police officer said.