HSBC is building pool designed to look like a flooded city

Swimmers appear to stroke above submerged houses and skyscrapers in a pool designed to look like a flooded city.

The eye-catching swimming pool in Mumbai, India, has been built to raise awareness about the threat of sea level rises as a result of global warming.

It was constructed by attaching a giant aerial photograph of the New York City skyline to the floor of the pool.

The idea was conceived by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, who were commissioned by banking giant HSBC to promote its £50million project tackling climate change.

Ogilvy spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharyya said: "The challenge was to reach out to people who are otherwise indifferent to the cause in a non-theoretical manner.

"HSBC wanted to convey the message in a unique visual way that would grab people's attention and couldn't be ignored."

"The Ogilvy team came up with an innovative way to show the adverse impact of global climate change.

"They glued an aerial view of a city to the base of a swimming pool.

"When the pool was filled with water, it gave a shocking effect akin to a city submerged in water.

"The visual of a sunken city shocked swimmers and onlookers, driving home the impact of global warming, and how it could destroy our world someday."

The pool, completed at sports centre in Bhaktipark, Wadala, Mumbai, this year, has been so successful that HSBC is considering building more of them in cities worldwide.

HSBC was the world's first bank to turn carbon neutral.