Four drown in Maharashtra beach

Four youths drowned in the Arabian Sea off the Kelva beach in Palghar district, nearly 100 km from Mumbai, on Sunday.

In the last 24 hours, the total number of deaths due to drowning in the Mumbai metropolitan region stands at five.

On Saturday, a boy was drowned off the Marine Drive in south Mumbai.

According to the Palghar police, a group of seven boys aged between 15 and 20 from Nalasopara had gone to the Kelva beach for a day out.

Three of them managed to escape but the other four were trapped in the choppy waters and died.

The deceased were identified as: Deepak Parashuram Chalwadi (20), Dipesh Dilip Pednekar (17), Sritej Naik (15) and Tushar Chipate (15).

While Dipesh's body has been fished out, the local adminstration, fishermen and firemen are continuing there search to find the other bodies.

The three who swam back were identified as: Gaurav Bhikaji Sawant (17), Sanket Sachin Jogle (17) and Devidas Ramesh Jadhav (16).

In view of the monsoon's revival over the weekend, the sea was in fact choppy.