Two foreign guests died and two people were injured after electricity reportedly spread through a swimming pool at the Conrad five-star hotel in Bengaluru on Friday evening, prompting a police investigation into the incident and the facility’s safety systems.
The deceased have been identified as 57-year-old Alexander Maximilian Thies, a German national employed by Lufthansa, and 45-year-old Juraj Horvat of Slovakia, who worked as a project manager at IBM. Both were staying at the hotel and entered the swimming pool on the third floor at around the same time, according to the report by Vijay Karnataka.
The report said the two guests were unable to get out of the pool after an electrical current spread through the water. A 41-year-old American guest, Matthew DeSantis, and 28-year-old Rahul Tiwari, an Indian national working in pool maintenance, were injured while attempting to rescue them. Both were taken to Manipal Hospital for treatment and were reported to be out of danger.
Police have registered a case and begun an investigation. The preliminary finding cited in the report is that an electrical fault or short circuit caused the current to enter the pool. The supplied report does not provide details of the sections invoked, the electrical installation involved, or whether any safety inspection had been completed before the incident.
The incident places attention on the safety obligations associated with swimming pools in hotels and other commercial buildings. Such facilities depend on electrical equipment, pumps, lighting and protection systems operating close to water, making maintenance records, circuit protection and emergency response procedures central to public safety. The police investigation is expected to establish how the current reached the pool and whether required safeguards were functioning.
The hotel administration had not issued a response at the time of the report. However, the hotel’s website stated on October 31 that the swimming pool would remain closed from October 31 to November 30 for maintenance work. The report did not specify whether the closure was connected to the incident or had been scheduled earlier.
The Conrad is a 24-storey luxury hotel operated under the Hilton group. The report noted that room rates begin at around ₹25,000 per night, highlighting the commercial setting in which the incident occurred. That detail does not establish responsibility, but it underscores why the investigation will need to examine the property’s maintenance systems, operating procedures and oversight arrangements.
The next steps will depend on the police inquiry, including any technical examination of the pool’s electrical installations, maintenance records and safety equipment. The hotel’s response and the findings of the investigation have not yet been reported.
