EAST BRUNSWICK — It was panic that led to the drowning of three people in a deep above-ground backyard pool on Monday afternoon, according to a report by NBC 4 New York.

Police responded to a home at 43 Clearview Road about 4:20 p.m. and removed three bodies from the pool. The victims were 62-year-old Bharat Patel, his 33-year-old daughter-in-law Nisha Patel and her 8-year-old daughter, according to acting Middlesex County Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberiet.

The Middlesex County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the manner of death as accidental and the cause of death to be drowning, Kuberiet said.

The prosecutor on Wednesday evening said there was not truth to earlier reports suggesting that electricity played a role in the deaths.

"The above-ground pool was mostly shallow at 3½ feet deep but there was a portion of the pool that was 7 feet deep," the prosecutor said in a written statement. "It doesn’t appear that the victims knew how to swim."

NBC 4 New York reported the girl’s aunt yelled for help after girl stepped into a 6- or 7-foot deep section of the pool.

Neighbors told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that the family had moved into the house two weeks ago. Public records show the house was sold in late April.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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