Mangaluru: Two cousins, who had been to a beach in Surathkal, drowned on Sunday. The deceased are Vaishnavi,21, an engineering student at a private institute in Mangaluru and resident of Shakti Nagar, Bengaluru and Trisha,15, a class X student from Anjanapura in Bengaluru.

According to police, the incident took place at 10 am, when family members, along with the victims, had been to the beach to perform rituals, following the death of a relative recently. It is learnt that the family members were present, and the children who stepped into the water, may have lost balance after a huge wave hit them, or were caught in currents.

Local fishermen and Home Guards put in their best efforts to rescue them. They were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, where they were declared dead. The Surathkal police have registered a case.