A college picnic to the beach turned into a tragedy on Monday when at least thirteen students drowned off India's west coast after they went swimming, police and officials said. The tragedy was the latest drowning incident in India, where many people are unable to swim and lax safety standards mean beaches are often without lifeguards.
Dozens of students from Pune city were on an excursion to Murud beach in the Raigad district of the western Indian state of Maharashtra when disaster struck on Monday. "A total of 155 students from Pune went to Murud main beach and some of them went swimming around 3.30 pm (1000 GMT) this afternoon," assistant inspector of Raigad police Arvind Patil told AFP.
"Thirteen students are dead due to drowning. The victims were all aged between 19 and 23," Patil said, adding that 10 women and three had men died. The victims were enrolled at Abeda Inamdar College, an arts, science and commerce institute in Pune. P. A. Inamdar, a trustee at the college, told AFP that the students had been on a picnic to Murud, which had been arranged by the educational institute.