Two foreign nationals died and two others were injured in an incident at a hotel swimming pool in Bengaluru, India, on Friday evening, Oct. 30. Police suspect an electrical fault may have been involved, but the cause has not been confirmed.
The incident took place at the Conrad Bengaluru in the Halasuru neighborhood. Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said investigators were awaiting medical and technical reports, along with other expert findings. The pool area was closed off while the investigation continued.
Police identified the men who died as Alexander Maximilian Theiss, 57, a German national and Lufthansa crew member, and Juraj Horvat, 45, a Slovak national who worked as an IBM project manager. Both were guests at the hotel.
Mathew Desantis, a 41-year-old American guest, and Rahul Tiwari, a 28-year-old pool attendant and lifeguard, were hurt while trying to help. Manipal Hospital said four people were brought in after the incident. Theiss was dead on arrival, while Horvat died after doctors tried to revive him.
The hospital said Desantis was stable after reporting a headache and experiencing shock. Tiwari was also stable, though doctors planned to examine him for possible fractures after he reported pain.
Lufthansa confirmed that a crew member died during a layover in Bengaluru and said it was unable to share further details out of respect for those affected. Conrad Bengaluru said it was saddened by the deaths and was cooperating with authorities. The hotel said the cause had not yet been established.
Theiss’ wife filed a police complaint alleging that the men were shocked as they tried to leave the pool and drowned. Investigators are examining the pool’s pump, underwater lights and electrical grounding system. Preliminary checks have focused on the underwater lighting, but officials have not confirmed what caused the incident.
The hotel’s website listed the pool as closed for maintenance from Oct. 31 through Nov. 30. Available reports have not established whether that closure was connected to the incident.
