Tragedy as Indian girls take selfie then kill themselves by jumping down well

This is the tragic final selfie of two teenage friends who drowned in what is believed to have been a joint suicide pact.

The bodies of the 17-year-olds, whose names have not been revealed, were found in a well in Mumbai – a popular local suicide spot.

Police said the girls took a selfie close to the well and turned it into their WhatsApp profile pictures just before they died.

Their smartphones, shoes and anklets were found nearby leading officers to believe they had deliberately jumped into the water.

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Their shocked families say they are mystified by the tragedy, as neither of the girls had shown any signs of being depressed or suicidal.

One of the grieving fathers revealed his daughter had recently begged him to buy her some dresses she had seen on television.

“I promised to get them for her… The clothes will arrive in a few days but my daughter is not around to wear them,” he said.

Police are studying the girls’ phones in the hope of establishing a motive. However, they had deleted their WhatsApp chats.

Police said one of the girls had recently broken up with her boyfriend, telling him that she was seeing another boy, and that could be linked.

This is believed to have been the fourth suicide incident at the well, in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb, in two years and police said they were “tired” of asking local officials to cover it.

Both girls were the daughters of rice farmers; one was still in school while the other had left and had started sewing to make some money.

Police say they had left their hamlet on the afternoon of their deaths without saying anything to their families.

One of the girl’s fathers said a local boy saw them walking in the direction of the well but they asked him not to tell anyone he had seen them.

The man said the girls called a boy they knew and told him what they planned to do. He had called the brother of one of the girls who raced to the scene but arrived too late.

He called emergency services who sent firefighters to recover the bodies from the well and police officers to investigate the incident.