3 drown near Juhu, 10 feared dead as Vasai boat capsizes

With very high tides and a choppy sea, Sunday saw two separate drowning incidents in the city.

With very high tides and a choppy sea, Sunday saw two separate drowning incidents in the city.

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While three friends from Vile Parle drowned near Juhu after they paid no heed to warnings by local fisherfolk, 10 fisherfolk are feared to have drowned after a boat capsized at Vasai.

The police said the fishermen were on their way to a temple to pray for a good catch for the next season when the boat capsized. They rescued 20 people, and dragged out four bodies; six people are missing.

The other incident took place at 1.45 pm when six youngsters decided to save time by crossing over from Versova beach via the 10-metre Seven Bungalow-Juhu Creek to Juhu beach, instead of taking the road.

Hirabai (60), a fisherwoman, said: "I warned them to not go into the creek as it was high tide and the current was strong."

"Only two of them knew to swim. They grabbed the one closest to them; the other three were swept into sea," said fire brigade chief Uday Tatkare.

The three victims have been identified as Subash More (24), Chetan Potle (23) and Kushal Gosavi (19). There were no lifeguards there as it is a creek.