HYDERABAD, July 5:  Selfie craze claims the lives of three teenage girls of a family in Telangana’s Nirmal district, police said.

The girls were drowned in an irrigation tank while trying to take selfies. The tragic incident occurred at Singangaon village of Thanoor mandal on Sunday evening but came to light on Monday.

The deceased were identified as Elime Suneetha (16), her sister Vaishali (14) and their cousin Anjali (14).

Police said the trio accidentally fell into the lake and drowned while trying to take selfies for uploading them on social media platforms.

According to police inspector Ajay Babu, when the girls did not return home, their parents launched a search and also lodged a complaint with the police. Some villagers found the bodies floating in the lake on Monday morning and alerted the police.

Police have also found a mobile phone.

Suneetha and Vaishali along with their mother Mangalabai and their cousin spent some time at their agriculture field on Sunday afternoon and took photographs in their mobile phones. The girls then went to the nearby tank to take some pictures. As the spot where they were standing to take selfies was slippery, they apparently slipped and fell into the tank.

Mangalabai returned home thinking that the girls might have already returned. However, as they did not return, the family members started searching for them. Suneetha and Vaishali’s father Dada Rao lodged a complaint with the police.

According to police, Anjali hailed from Maharashtra and had come to the village to meet her relatives.

The police shifted the bodies to government-run hospital at Bhainsa town for autopsy.