A college picnic ended in tragedy on Monday after at least 14 students drowned off India's west coast where they went swimming. The latest drowning incident in India, lax safety standards at the beaches mean no lifeguards. The dead include 10 girls and three boys. All of them were aged between 18 and 20 and were studying Computer Science.
Students from Abeda Inamdar Senior College in Pune were on a trip to Murud beach in Raigad district, Maharashtra when the fun came to a shocking halt. “A total of 155 students from Pune went to Murud main beach and some of them went swimming,” said assistant inspector of Raigad police Arvind Patil. “Fourteen students are dead due to drowning. The victims were all aged between 19 and 23,” he said, adding 10 were women and 3 men. In the afternoon, while some students were having lunch, others went for a swim, but the tide pulled them into the sea, witnesses said. Locals and fishermen rushed to their help and the Raigad police and district administration soon joined rescue operations. While some students were managed to be saved, 14 drowned and 1 boy went missing, said Inspector General of Police for Konkan Range, Prashant Burde.
Trustee of the college, P.A. Inamdar said all the other students have been accounted for, confirmed by Patil that everyone on the excursion was “safe” after a massive rescue operation involving the Indian coast guard and navy. Commander Rahul Sinha said up to 18 students had got into difficulty in the water and 6 of them had been rescued and taken to the hospital. Inamdar said between 8 and 10 college staff had accompanied the students on their trip and he had been told that there hadn't been any lifeguards on duty at the time of the tragedy. “I don't think there were lifeguards on the beach. That is the basic problem,” he said. In a statement, the governor of Maharashtra, C. Vidyasagar Rao, expressed his condolences to the families of those who died.
“I am deeply aggrieved and shocked to know about the drowning of 13 students... who had gone to the Murud beach in Raigad district for a picnic,” he said. “My heart goes out to the near and dear ones of all students who lost their life.” Monday's incident comes a few weeks after a man drowned off Mumbai trying to save a girl who fell into the sea while taking a selfie. The girl and two friends fell off rocks into the Arabian sea while clicking photos of themselves.
Murud, on the Konkan coast, has dozens of beaches popular with locals who prefer it to the internationally renowned tourist state of Goa.
