3 students drown in lake while taking selfie

Clicking a selfie on a slippery rock proved costly for three students as they fell down and drowned in a lake in Dobbspet near Nelamangala on Monday morning.

The victims Poornachandra (18), Mohammed Murtuza (17), Shashank K S (17) were PUC students and a part of National Service Scheme (NSS) camp. They were residents of different villages in Tumakuru district, the police said.

The incident happened around 9.30 am at a lake in Nijagallu in Dobbspet. As it was the last day of the camp, there was a cleaning drive around the lake organised by the NSS camp.

Poornachandra along with Murtuza and Shashank went to another end of the lake to take a selfie. The rocks were slippery and Poornachandra slipped and fell into the water. Murtuza and Shashank jumped into the lake to rescue him, but were stuck in the silt, the police said.

A student noticed the incident and jumped into the water, but locals rescued him. However, the trio had drowned by then, the police said.

On being alerted, the police and fire and emergency services personnel retrieved the bodies and shifted them to Nelamangala government hospital for post-mortem.

The Dobbspet police have registered a case.

According to police, the NSS camp organised for seven days had 51 students with seven teachers. They were on cleaning drives around Dobbspet villages, temples and lakes.