( CNN ) -- Italian newspapers , an archbishop and civil liberties campaigners expressed shock and revulsion on Monday after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Roma girls were laid out on the sand . Photographs of the dead Roma girls on a beach caused outrage in Italy . Italian news agency ANSA reported that the incident had occurred on Saturday at the beach of Torregaveta , west of Naples , southern Italy , where the two girls had earlier been swimming in the sea with two other Roma girls . Reports said they had gone to the beach to beg and sell trinkets . Local news reports said the four girls found themselves in trouble amid fierce waves and strong currents . Emergency services responded 10 minutes after a distress call was made from the beach and two lifeguards attended the girls upon hearing their screams . Two of them were pulled to safety but rescuers failed to reach the other two in time to save them . Watch why the photos have generated anger » . The Web site of the Archbishop of Naples said the girls were cousins named Violetta and Cristina , aged 12 and 13 . Their bodies were eventually laid out on the sand under beach towels to await collection by police . Photographs show sunbathers in bikinis and swimming trunks sitting close to where the girls ' feet can be seen poking out from under the towels concealing their bodies . A photographer who took photos at the scene told CNN the mood among sunbathers had been one of indifference . Other photos show police officers lifting the bodies into coffins and carrying them away past bathers reclined on sun loungers . `` While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand , there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few meters away , '' Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported . Corriere della Sera said that a crowd of curious onlookers that had formed around the bodies quickly dispersed . `` Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing . When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins , the two girls were carried away between bathers stretched out in the sun . '' The incident also attracted condemnation from the Archbishop of Naples , Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe . `` Indifference is not an emotion for human beings , '' Seppe wrote in his parish blog . `` To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur . '' Recent weeks have seen heightened tensions between Italian authorities and the country 's Roma minority amid a crackdown by Silvo Berlusconi 's government targeting illegal immigrants and talk by government officials of a `` Roma emergency '' that has seen the 150,000-strong migrant group blamed for rising street crime . That has provided justification for police raids on Roma camps and controversial government plans to fingerprint all Roma -- an act condemned by the European Parliament and United Nations officials as a clear act of racial discrimination . Popular resentment against Romanies has also seen Roma camps near Naples attacked and set on fire with petrol bombs by local residents . In a statement published on its Web site , the Italian civil liberties group EveryOne said Saturday 's drowning had occurred in an atmosphere of `` racism and horror '' and cast doubt on the reported version of events , suggesting that it appeared unusual for the four girls to wade into the sea , apparently casting modesty aside and despite being unable to swim . `` The most shocking aspect of all this is the attitude of the people on the beach , '' the statement said . `` No one appears the slightest upset at the sight and presence of the children 's dead bodies on the beach : they carry on swimming , sunbathing , sipping soft drinks and chatting . '' CNN 's Jennifer Eccleston contributed to this report .
Italian outrage over photos of sunbathers at a beach where two Roma girls drowned . Photos showed girls ' bodies lying on sand covered in beach towels . Newspapers report beach goers eating lunch , sun bathing as bodies carried away . Incident occurred amid heightened tensions between authorities , Roma minority .