Bollywood actress Sridevi 'died of accidental drowning'

Indian actress Sridevi Kapoor died of accidental drowning this weekend after attending a family wedding, according to new reports.

It was originally reported that the 54-year-old actress, known as Sridevi, died of cardiac arrest on Saturday.

That initial claim was rolled back today when the Dubai Media Office revealed that the actor’s death “occurred due to drowning in her hotel apartment’s bathtub following loss of consciousness.”

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The case has been passed to Dubai Public Prosecution which will carry out “regular legal procedures.”

“Traces of alcohol” were found in Sridevi’s body, which “may have led to the accident,” says Gulf News. More information is expected to be revealed after the results of a toxicology report are released.

Sridevi “was considered one of the very few Indian female superstars capable of huge box-office success without the support of a male hero,” the BBC reports.

After starting her acting career at the age of four, Sridevi got her first leading role in a Bollywood film in 1979. During a decades-long career in Indian cinema, she appeared in films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

As news of her death spread, “crowds gathered outside Kapoor’s Mumbai home” to pay tribute to an actor who “riveted audiences for nearly five decades,” says The Guardian.

Politicians, celebrities and fans mourned the actor on Twitter: