Day 1 of summer vacation claims three lives at Aksa

It was the first day of the summer holidays and a group of nine teenagers planned a picnic to celebrate. But tragedy struck when three of the group drowned at Aksa Beach in Malwani on Wednesday morning. Five others were rescued by people running stalls on the beach.

The dead boys were identified as Satish Benbansi, 18, his brother Akash, 10, and Mayur Patel, 14. All members of the group were residents of the Hari Pahelwan Chawl in Yadav Nagar, Jogeshwari (West), police said.

Senior inspector VR Andhale of the Malwani police station said eight of the youngsters ventured into the sea for a swim at about 11:30am, when the tide was high. “All of them went in the deep waters and could not handle the waves,” Andhale said. “They were engulfed in a huge wave and washed away.”

The ninth boy, Ashish Yadav, who was sitting on the shore to look after the group’s belongings, raised an alarm. Hearing Yadav’s screams, stall-owners nearby rushed to rescue the youngsters. Five of them were brought out safely and rushed to a hospital in Malwani for first aid. They were declared out of danger and discharged by evening.

The other three, however, had ventured much further inside and could not be saved in time. They were brought out by the rescuers and rushed to Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli where they were declared dead.

Those who were rescued were identified as Vishal Benbansi, 12, Sunny Benbansi, 13, both brothers of Satish; Jai Patel, 12, brother of Mayur Patel; Guddu Yadav, 18, and Suraj Yadav, 14, brothers of Ashish. The five were rushed to a hospital in Malwani for first aid. They were discharged by evening.

Mayur’s distraught father, Hasmukh Patel, an electrical contractor, said, “The kids were planning the picnic for the past few days, but we were not letting them go because of the exams. But once the exams got over on Tuesday, both my sons said their friends wanted to go for a picnic to Aksa beach on Wednesday morning, So I allowed them to go.”

Satish Benbasi’s elder sister Poonam said, “On Tuesday night, all my four brothers were very happy planning the picnic. They left home at 6:30am. Little did I know then that I would be seeing Satish and Akash for the last time.”

Satish was studying for a bachelor’s degree in mass media at Lords College, Malad, while Akash was a Std V student of BL Ruia School, Vile Parle. Mayur was a Std VIII student of MVM School at Veera Desai Road, Andheri (West).