Pics by Rons Bantwal

Mumbai, Jul 18: Two youth drowned after they got trapped in a deep pond near a waterfall inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park here Sunday afternoon, officials said.

The victims - Jayesh Asgaonkar, 22 and Pramod Kadhav, 19 - were part of a six-member group which went for a picnic to the park, situated in northwest Mumbai.

They were in a waterfall and a large pond that had developed owing to the monsoon rains when suddenly the duo slipped and fell into depression in the pond and failed to come out.

Four of their friends, who were also trapped in the pond waters, managed to swim to safety.

"The body of Asgaonkar was fished out this evening and search was on to retrieve Kadhav's body," a police officer said.

The 100-square metre park is a favourite picnic spot and a tourist attraction round the year.

Among the attractions are a tiger safari, a lion safari, deer parks, leopards, the world's largest Atlas butterflies with a wing span of over one metre, and other varieties of flora and fauna.

Around 10 km inside the park are the world famous Kanheri Caves, which was a university over 1,500 years ago.