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Caption: A luxury five-star hotel belonging to the Conrad Hilton group. Photo: Conrad Bengaluru Hotel
A German and a Slovak national went swimming in the pool on the fourth floor of the luxury 24-storey hotel on Friday evening.
Two Europeans have died of electric shock in the swimming pool of a five-star hotel in Bengaluru, India.
Two others were also injured in the incident at the Conrad Hotel in the city on Friday evening.
Indian media outlet NDTV reported that the deceased have been identified as citizens of Germany and Slovakia. They were staying at the Conrad Hotel.
Two more people were injured while trying to rescue them. One is a U.S. citizen and the other is the Indian caretaker of the swimming pool. Both have been admitted to Manipal Hospital and are receiving treatment. Both are reported to be out of danger.
The German national has been named as Alexander Maximilian Theiss (57). He was a crew member of Lufthansa Airlines.
The Slovak national has been named as Juraj Horvath (45). He was a project manager at the technology company IBM.
Manipal Hospital said the German national was brought to the hospital dead. The Slovak national died while doctors were trying to resuscitate him.
The injured U.S. citizen has been named as Matthew DeSantis (41). Hospital authorities said that the American sensed the flow of current and jumped into the pool to rescue the victims. He was injured by the electric shock, but is now stable.
The Indian pool caretaker, Rahul Tiwari (28), was injured while trying to rescue the others. His condition is also stable.
On Friday evening, the German and Slovak nationals had gone to swim in the pool on the fourth floor of the luxury 24-storey hotel.
A case has been filed over the incident. Police have launched an investigation. The wife of the German national, Alexander, has lodged a complaint at the police station. In her complaint, she said the two victims were electrocuted and drowned while trying to get out of the pool.
She alleged that the deaths occurred due to negligence by the Conrad Hotel authorities in properly maintaining the swimming pool.
On Saturday morning, the hotel announced on its website that the swimming pool would be closed from October 31 to November 30 "for maintenance work."
In a statement, Conrad Hotel authorities said they are devastated by the incident and are cooperating with the police in the investigation.
The hotel is a luxury five-star property belonging to the Conrad Hilton group. A standard room at this hotel costs at least 25,000 rupees per night.