In a tragic incident, 13 college students from Pune, including ten girls, drowned in the Arabian Sea off Murud Beach in Raigad district in Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan region, while they were on a picnic there on Monday.
One more student was “missing” and “feared” dead. However, the college authorities had not made a formal announcement about the “missing” student till late in the evening.
As soon as the news of the tragedy reached them, the Indian Coast Guard and Navy launched a search for the missing students. “Coast Guard craft IC 117, two hired fishing boats deployed for search and rescue. As of now, 13 bodies have been recovered. Four students were either rescued or managed to reach the shore and were taken to hospital. One student is still missing,” a Defence spokesperson said.
A Coast Guard helicopter and two Indian Navy helicopters were pressed into service around 6 pm to search for the missing boy.
“A search is on for the missing boy named M Saife Ahmad,” the spokesperson added.
The 13 students in the age group of 18 to 22 years, studying Computer Science at the Abeda Inamdar College in Pune, were among a group of 130 students that had gone to the popular tourist destination of Murud- Janjira for a picnic.
Police said: "As many as 18 students decided to go for a swim in the sea after lunch. Unaware of the depth of the water they were dragged into the deep sea during low-tide. While four were rescued by the life guards posted at Murud Beach, 13 of them met a watery grave and one is still untraceable."
The 13 students who drowned have been identified as Swapani Sangram, Raj Tanjini, Ifreen Sayeed, Shaffia Ansari, Sajida Ansari, Sana Munir, Samreen Shaikh, Shiffa Kaji, Supriya Pad and Saumya Ansari, Sajid Chaudhary, Yusuf Ansari and Shafriwar Shaikh.
After news of the students' drowning reached Pune, the officials of the educational institution, including its chairman PA Inamdar, rushed to the spot. The bodies of the drowned students were taken back to Pune later in the evening.