Nashik (Maharashtra), Jul 18 (IANS): Two young men drowned in a lake at a popular picnic spot near Malegaon town on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Powarwadi Police Station incharge Gulabrao Patil said that the two men, both aged around 20, stepped into the lake formed besides a gushing waterfall for a swim around 3 pm but were pulled down by powerful undercurrents owing to the rush of water.

After eyewitnesses raised an alarm, a police team rushed to the spot. Fire brigade divers later retrieved the victims' bodies from the lake after an hour-long search.

Police official S.P. More said the victims were identified as Jabir Suleiman Shah and Salman Ayub Shaikh of Nihalnagar in nearby Malegaon.

Even though locals claimed that two more youths had accompanied the victims, More said police did not have any such information.

The bodies were sent for autopsies to ascertain the exact cause of deaths and if they were intoxicated at the time of tragedy.