Bodies of 5 who drowned in sea recovered

Mumbai: The bodies of five family members who had drowned in the sea off Vasai beach near Mumbai on Thursday were recovered on Friday. The family had been bathing in the sea after celebrating Holi  on Thursday.

Rescuers pulled out 17-year-old Prashant Mourya’s body from the sea Thursday but the other five members of the family were reported missing.  

Around 10 members of the Maurya and Gupta families, all residents of Vasai (west), went to the Nalasopara beach around 1pm Friday for a swim to wash off the Holi colours. An hour later, five of them waded into the water only to be pulled in further as the tide was high. Fishermen and other revellers tried to help as they screamed for help.

Following a search operation, the body of Prashant was fished out late in the evening while the bodies of the rest of his family members were recovered the next day.  Arnala police station senior police inspector, Aapasaheb Lengare, said that they received a call at 4.45pm Thursday.

“Those missing were the mother of Prashant Maurya, Nisha (36); his sister Priya (19) who is a college student; Kanchan Gupta (35); and Sheetal Gupta (32) (both sisters-in-law). The revellers ignored the high tide warning and there were no lifeguards,” Mr Lengare said.  

“The Vasai-Virar fire brigade personnel, along with the fishermen, carried out the search and discovered the bodies.”  The complainant, Dinesh Gupta, Sheetal’s husband, told the police that he too was swimming but when he realised that the tide was high, he pulled out of the water and told the others to follow suit. The five, however, got washed away. The bodies have been sent for an autopsy.