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Neither Bharat Patel, 62, his 33-year old daughter-in-law Nisha Patel nor her 8-year-old daughter knew how to swim, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberiet and East Brunswick Police Chief Frank LoSacco said in a joint statement.
"The above-ground pool was mostly shallow at 3½ feet deep," Kuberiet and LoSacco said, but there was a portion of the pool that was 7 feet deep."
"It doesn’t appear that the victims knew how to swim, and their deaths were accidental in nature, they said.
An initial theory that a malfunctioning pool filter could have played a role in the drownings was ruled out.
"Although the investigation is active, it was determined that electricity did not play a part in the death of these three victims," they said in their statement.
East Brunswick Police responded to their residence located at 43 Clearview Road at approximately 4:18 p.m. and found the three victims unresponsive in the pool. They were pronounced dead shortly after being found.
The Middlesex County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the manner of death as accidental and the cause of death to be drowning for all three victims.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Kimberly DiParisi of the East Brunswick Police Department at 732-390-6900 or Detective Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3927.
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