Boy drowns at marve; youth feared dead

A 10-year-old boy drowned at Marve beach in Malad (West) on Sunday, while a 19-year-old who tried to save him is feared dead. The incident took place during Chhath

A 10-year-old boy drowned at Marve beach in Malad (West) on Sunday, while a 19-year-old who tried to save him is feared dead. The incident took place during Chhath puja, said police.

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The victim, Ajay Chauhan, a resident of Govind Nagar slum, was visiting the beach with his family for the puja. Mukul Shah, who was also there with his family, saw Chauhan getting swept away by the waves and tried to save him but slipped on the rocks and fell into the sea. Shah is a resident of Pathanwadi slum.

The fire brigade received a call at 6.51am, alerting them about the incident. The fire brigade and a Navy team arrived at the spot and search operations continued till Sunday late night. While fire officials recovered Chauhan’s body, Shah is yet to be found. Search operations will resume on Monday morning.

There were 500-1,000 people at the beach when the incident took place, said police. “We had kept adequate bandobast at Marve beach, including BMC lifeguards, but we concentrated more on Aksa beach, as the beach is more dangerous and sees larger crowds,” said an officer from Malwani police station.