Three adults lost their lives after falling into Woods Canyon Lake, Arizona, according to a police press release on Tuesday.
Narayana Rao Muddana, 49, his wife Haritha Muddana, and Gokul Mediseti were walking on ice when they broke through and fell into the water.
“Responding Deputies and Fire units were able to pull the female from the water and administer life saving measures but were unsuccessful,” the Coconino County Sheriff’s said in a post on Facebook.
Police used a boat from a boat rental to pull out the woman.
The other two people were found and declared deceased the next day.
The case is still under investigation, they said.
The victims were of Indian nationality but living in Chandler, Arizona, a city southeast of Phoenix.
The Muddanas have two children.
Mediseti’s wife and child were also at the lake when the incident occurred, according to The Hindu.
According to ABC 15, two children and a woman tried to rescue their loved ones, but they fell into the water themselves and barely made it to the shore.
Jon Paxton, a sheriff’s office spokesman, told ABC 15 in Phoenix that the trio were part of a group of three families who had driven up from their homes in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. They had wanted to enjoy the outdoors the day after Christmas.
It appeared they “wanted to get some pictures out on the ice,” Paxton said.
That’s when the three fell through.
“Authorities in the U.S. have said that as the girls are minors, they can be sent back to India only with a blood relative. Either the paternal or the maternal grandparents of the children will be going to the U.S. to bring them back,” Mr. Naresh Babu, brother-in-law of Narayana Muddana said to The Hindu.
Authorities say the Arizona Department of Child Safety has temporarily taken custody of the Muddanas’ two young daughters.
A GoFundMe purported to be for the families has already raised over $600,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
