Four women students of a private institute drowned in the sea at Devgad in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district on Saturday afternoon while a male student was missing, police said.
The deceased were part of a group of 35 students of Sainik Academy, a training institute in Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune, said an official.
The group was visiting the coastal town, around 500km south of Mumbai, for a picnic. The incident took place when some of them entered the water around 3pm, said the official.
The deceased women students were identified as Prerna Dongre, Ankita Gaalte, Anisha Padwal and Payal Bansode. The bodies have been kept at the nearby rural hospital.
Police registered an Accidental Death Report and further investigation was underway, the official said.
