One teen drowns off Palghar, three others missing

Four teenagers drowned off the Dadra Pada coast of Palghar on Sunday afternoon. While one body has been fished out, a search operation is on to trace the missing three.

The teenagers were part of a group of seven youngsters from Nalasopara's Santosh Bhuvan area who had gone for a picnic at the Kelwe beach.

The youngsters have been identified as Deepak Chalwadi, 20, Dipesh Dileep Pednekar, 17, Sritej Naik, 15, Tushar Chimte, 15, Gaurav Sawant, 17, Sanket Jogle, 17, and Devidas Jadhav, 16.

According to Palghar Police, the incident took place around 2:30 pm on Sunday when the sea was rough due to heavy rains. The teens were enjoying at the far north end of the beach when they were caught unaware by the rising water. They had ignored the caution sign and were trapped in the high tide. Even the lifeguards stationed at the beach by the Kelwe Gram Panchayat were not able to rescue the four teens.

The lifeguards and a few local fishermen managed to rescue Jogle, Jadhav and Sawant when they heard their screams for help.

"We have found the body of Deepak Chalwadi. An operation to trace others is still underway," said a police officer from the Palghar Police Station.

"We have informed the parents of the teenagers. Chalwadi's body will be handed over to his family on Monday after a postmortem. One of the survivors is in the hospital right now, while others are safe," he added.