Two security guards died after getting stuck in a flooded elevator in the basement of a building in rain-lashed central Mumbai on Wednesday morning, police said.

The incident took place at Nathani Residency, a high-rise near Kala Pani junction of Agripada area. Security guards Jamir Ahmed Sohanan, 32, and Shehzad Mohammed Siddhique Memon, 37, had taken the elevator to go to the basement to open a valve for water supply, a police officer said.

The basement was flooded because of heavy rain through the night. Water rushed into the lift as soon as the doors opened, he said. Before the two could step out, the doors got closed and they were stuck inside.

They pressed the alarm button to alert the residents, following which the police and fire brigade were called in. Fire brigade personnel cut open the upper portion of the lift and pulled the duo out but both had died by then, the officer said. The exact cause of the death was yet to be ascertained but drowning appeared to be the reason.