3 of family drown in Arabian Sea in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg during picnic; 4 missing

At least three members of a family drowned in the Arabian Sea in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra during their picnic, while four others who entered the water with them went missing, police said.

A 16-year-old girl, who was part of the group, was rescued, an official said.

According to him, the incident occurred around 4 pm off the Shiroda-Velagar beach, located more than 490 km from Mumbai.

“Eight members of a family were on a picnic. While two of them stayed in Kudal (in Sindhudurg), six others had arrived from Belgaum (Belagavi in Karnataka),” he said.

All eight of them ventured into the sea for swimming. However, shortly thereafter, they started drowning as they failed to gauge the depth of water, he said.

After being alerted, the police and local disaster management teams launched a rescue operation. During the search, they recovered the bodies of three victims, while four others are still missing, the official added. Search for the remaining four was on till late evening.