Murud Beach tragedy: Missing body recovered after 18 hours

Syona Sachdeva

New Delhi: The body of the student which went out missing in Monday's drowning tragedy at Maharashtra's Murud beach was fished out on Tuesday after 18 hours of the mishap.

Saif Madki's body was discovered floating in the waters of Murud Beach following a three-hour search by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.

The massive tragedy killed 13 other students, including 10 girls, who had gone to Murud beach for picnic in Raigad district. The students aged between 18 to 20 were computer science students.

An Indian Navy Chetak helicopter and an interceptor speedboat had resumed search for Madki at daybreak.

A group of 130 people including 112 students, 12 teachers and three non-teaching staff went to enjoy the pleasant day which later turned into a tragedy when the tide devoured the students. into the sea.

Maharashtra Governor C V Rao and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief and deep shock over the tragedy. The state government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 to the families of each victim.

Students who were part of this unfortunate incident: Rafiya Ansari and her sister Shafiya Ansari, Sumaiya Ansari, Sheefa Kazi, Supriya Pan, Sana Shaikh, Swapnali Salgar, Sajeed Choudhary, Iftekar Shaikh, Samreen Shaikh, Mohammed Ansari, Farin Sayyed and Rajlaxmi Pandugayala.

Although the exact cause of the mass-drowning is unclear, local fishermen and villagers claimed that they had warned the students against venturing too far out in the sea waters. Their warning went unheeded.

Murud village is globally renowned for the famous 15th century sea monument, the imposing Murud-Janjira Fort, around one km off the coast in the Arabian Sea and approachable only by boat.(Image Courtesy: orissapost.com)