Indian students in Texas pool accident identified

Two Indian students, whose bodies were found in a swimming pool in the United States city of Kingsville, have been identified by police.

The victims, both 23, have been identified as Pravesh Kumar and Vijay Mahadvan, both graduate students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Kumar was looking forward to graduating in August with a Masters in Business Administration, while Mahadevan was working on his Masters in Electrical Engineering.

Ruling out any foul play in the incident, police said they are calling it an accidental drowning

"It does not appear that (a murder) occurred," Kingsville Chief of Police Ricardo Torres said, adding, "It appears it was just a really bad accident."

Police said the two men had been drinking alcohol when they climbed the locked gate surrounding the pool. Both were wearing only a pair of blue jeans.

Dr Muhittin Yilmaz, Mahadevan's professor, said he met the hardworking student back in August last and recently took him under his wing as a teaching assistant. The two were planning to work on a project this summer involving helicopters.

"He was very talkative, very nice and family oriented as well, he tried to balance family with business," Yilmaz said, adding, "When we would talk about it, I could see it, his eagerness and his willingness to work hard."

That willingness to work hard is now a fond memory of Mahadevan that Dr Yilmaz said he will always treasure.

"I am going to miss him definitely. I was looking forward to working with him this summer, if his parents get this message, I would tell them they have to be very proud of him," he said.

A makeshift memorial for both Mahadevan and Kumar has been set up at the complex where they died. School officials said a candle light vigil will take place sometime this week.