Three students drown at sea near Juhu

An outing to Juhu beach to celebrate a birthday turned into tragedy for 11 college students from Thane as three of them are feared to have drowned after they ventured into the sea on Friday afternoon. This is second incident in past 24 hours after a 17-year-old boy was feared to have drowned at Versova on Thursday.

An outing to Juhu beach to celebrate a birthday turned into tragedy for 11 college students from Thane as three of them are feared to have drowned after they ventured into the sea on Friday afternoon. This is second incident in past 24 hours after a 17-year-old boy was feared to have drowned at Versova on Thursday.

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According to the Santacruz police, the teenagers including two girls, from Gyandevi Vidya Mandir College in Thane, had come to Juhu beach in western suburb of Mumbai when two of them went for a swim. Minutes after they stepped into the waters, the duo was swept inside by a tidal wave. When their friend plunged into the sea in a bid to save them, he too was caught into the choppy waves. Police and relatives stated that the teenagers had bunked college to reach Juhu beach at around 2.30 pm to celebrate birthday of one of the girls in their group.

The names of the youths who are feared to have drowned are Amitesh Yadav, 16, Divakar Dayashankar Pandey, 16, both residents of Hanuman Nagar in Wagle Estate and Sanjeev Yadav, 19, a resident of Ramnagar in Wagle Estate. Rescue operations were hampered due to choppy waters as it was high tide at 3.22 pm.

"We were all at the shore when Amitesh and Divakar, both who didn't know swimming, decided to go inside. The duo ventured into the sea when a strong wave swept them inside. Looking at this, Sanjeev, who knew swimming, too plunged in order to save them but the water currents were very high and he too was pulled inside," Niraj Pal, 17, one of the teenagers in the group told HT.

The other teenagers raised an alarm and rushed to call lifeguards at the beach, but to no avail. The lifeguards entered the sea but could not rescue the trio due to choppy waters. "By the time the duo entered inside the sea, it was 3 pm. The lifeguards immediately reached the spot but the trio was untraceable," said Pal. The rescue operations were on till late night but the chances of survival seemed bleak with every passing minute. The other teenagers were taken to Santacruz police station where the police recorded their statements.