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Eight 16-year-old students from Pune drowned at Diveagar Beach in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on Thursday afternoon.
According to police cited by NDTV, a 48-member group from Winners Academy, a private coaching centre in Alandi, Pune, had visited Diveagar on an educational trip. The group consisted of 25 boys, 17 girls and six teachers.
The group travelled around 170 kilometres before reaching the beach at approximately 5:30 p.m. Eight students entered the sea but were swept away by strong currents after apparently underestimating the depth of the water and the strength of the current.
Local water-sports operator Bhau Maruti Salunkhe and his team immediately launched a rescue operation and recovered the bodies of all eight students from the sea.
Assistant Police Inspector Santosh Awate of Dighi Sagari Borli Panchayatan Police Station later arrived at the scene with police personnel. With the assistance of local residents, the bodies were taken to the Borli Panchayatan Primary Health Centre for post-mortem examinations and other legal procedures.
The victims were identified as Tanmay Dattatray Vahile, Sumit Bharat Ahire, Pranav Ramdas Bansode, Kaivalya Satish Wasankar, Rajveer Yuvraj Vahile, Yash Kiran Wankhede, Soham Tukaram Bhandwalkar and Kaustubh Sandeep Daund.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis described the incident as extremely tragic and heartbreaking. In a post on X, he said the local administration was coordinating arrangements to transport the bodies to Alandi.
State Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan ordered an investigation into the accident and said new safety guidelines would be considered to protect students during educational trips. He also stressed the need to determine the responsibility of the coaching centre authorities. Source: NDTV.
