Indian-origin teenager drowns while saving cousin NR

London, July 16, 2010:

An Indian-origin teenager drowned during a family holiday when she tried to rescue her cousin from a drifting boat in a lake in Britain.

Fifteen-year-old Kajil Devi was at the Cotswold Water Park in Gloucestershire when she slipped in a bathing area at about 3.45 p.m. Sunday, Daily Mail reported Friday.

A rope was thrown, but she fell again and disappeared under water.

Kajil, of Hanworth, south west London, was dragged out of the lake by a lifeguard. She received emergency care and was taken to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. She died the next day.

Kajil's brother, Amid Kumar, said: "My mum and dad just can’t take it in. She sacrificed herself to save my cousin, she saved that little kid’s life. She could have gone to ask someone for help but that’s the thing about caring people, they don’t think they just do it."

Ben Greenaway, who was sitting on the nearby beach, was quoted as saying: "It was a horrible experience - one of the worst things I have seen."

"I was sitting on the shore with my daughter and this family called the lifeguards over saying they could not find her. About five minutes later a couple of children dragged a body out of the lake right where my daughter was playing."

Kajil's Hindu family held a ceremony at a temple in Southall, west London, Wednesday.