Bengaluru, May 15 (IANS): Two treasure hunters aiming to find gold dust in the Kolar Gold Fields mines drowned in a pit and died, an official said on Thursday.

"Three persons, including a rescuer, have died in KGF. We have taken out two bodies. They could be thieves," Kolar district Deputy Commissioner C. Sathyabhama told IANS.

On Wednesday evening at around 7:30 p.m., Kanda, 55, Joseph, 45, and Richard went in search of gold dust in the KGF mines.

"Kanda and Joseph went down into a pit with the help of a rope as Richard waited above. Both of them did not return, prompting Richard to go back home and inform Kanda's family," a police officer said.

Kanda's son Santosh, 20, then went in search of his father and got down the pit where the trio had hoped they could find gold flakes mixed in dust.

"While Kanda and Joseph went inside the pit and died, Santosh went into a deeper place and died," said the officer. Police are yet to find the body of Santosh.

According to the officer, the deceased did not know that there was water inside the pit, which led to their drowning and death.

"We have completed the post-mortem and returned the bodies of Kanda and Joseph to their families," he said.

The officer said that gold dust hunting has been happening stealthily for a while as the seekers aim to salvage gold flakes by sieving the dust to sell them.

The police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC. The officer said the deceased duo were history-sheeters with police record.