Five boys aged between 12 and 16, who went to Marve creek, Malad west, to enjoy a rainy Sunday, drowned. While two boys were rescued safely by the locals, the three others who were missing and whose bodies were recovered later, were declared brought dead by Kandivali Shatabdi Hospital. The dead teenagers have been identified as Nikhil Sazi Kayampur (14), Ajay Harijan (14) and Shubham Rajkumar Jaiswal (14). The quintet is reported to have ventured half-a-kilometre into the sea, but having failed to gauge the depth of the water, they drowned. Locals reported the incident to the fire brigade on Sunday, around 9.38 am.
Two saved, three lives lost
The two boys who were rescued by locals before the arrival of the fire brigade have been identified as Krishna Jitendra Harijan, 16, and Ankush Bharat Shivare, 13, while Subham Rajkumar Jaiswal, 12, Nikhil Sajid Kayamkur,13, and Ajay Jitendra Harijan, 12, could not be saved.
Rescue operations
The Mumbai Fire Brigade, Police, coast guard, Navy divers and an ambulance were rushed to the spot. According to the fire brigade, rescue operations for the three boys are underway, with two boats, hooks, anchors, ropes, bamboos and three submarine divers of the INS Hamala, along with local fishermen’s boats having been pressed into service.
According to Malvani police, “Five boys were playing football near the seashore on Sunday morning. Afterwards, one of the boys went towards the sea to wash his feet when suddenly, a huge wave hit the shore and sucked him inside. Seeing him drowning, the other four jumped into the sea to rescue him but unable to gauge the rough sea, they drowned.”
“Lifeguards saved two of them but the other three are still missing. BMC lifeguards, police and Navy helicopters are searching for them. All these boys are residents of Pereirawadi, Marve,” police had said earlier, when the three boys were still missing.
BMC warning ignored often
Every monsoon, teenagers, mostly boys, enter the sea for a swim. The BMC and the India Meteorological Department issue alerts, warning people not to enter the sea in this period as the sea is always rough and it is very windy. The warnings always go unheeded and tragedy follows.
On June 13, five boys seated at the edge of the Juhu-Koliwada jetty, found themselves engulfed by the sea after a huge wave hit the jetty. They had drowned around half-a-kilometre away from the sea shore. One boy was rescued by local fishermen and he told them of the four other boys who had drowned. The following day, the bodies of his four friends were recovered. On June 9, a 27-year-old woman, on an outing with her husband, was sucked into the sea at Bandra Bandstand.
