New York: Police are investigating the mysterious deaths of two sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies, bound together with tape, washed up on New York City's waterfront last week.

The sisters, Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, were discovered October 24 on a bank of the Hudson River, about 225 miles (360 km) from Fairfax, Virginia, where they lived and were reported missing in August.

Sisters Rotana, left, and Tala Farea, whose fully clothed bodies, bound together with tape and facing each other, were discovered on the banks of New York City's Hudson River waterfront. Credit:AP

As of Tuesday, investigators still had not determined how they died. The sisters' bodies were taped together and facing each other, but had no obvious signs of trauma, police said. They were both fully clothed.

Their mother told detectives the day before the bodies were discovered, she received a call from an official at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, ordering the family to leave the US because her daughters had applied for political asylum, New York police said on Tuesday.