Team Herald
MAPUSA: A decision to take a sea bath at Calangute turned tragic when 5 of the 14 Indian tourists from Akola, District of Maharashtra, were swept away on Monday morning.
These 14 Akola natives had arrived on Monday at 4 am in Goa by train. After alighting at the Margao Railway Station, they hired taxis and reached Calangute beach at around 6 am. Wasting no time, all the 14 persons directly ventured into the rough sea without realising that death was waiting for some of them on their first day in Goa.
The tourists, according to sources, did not read the signboards nor see the red flags erected on the beach warning against venturing into the sea.
According to sources, as the tourists were enjoying their bath, a strong wave swept five of them into the deep waters while the other nine managed to reach the shore.
However after 20 minutes, bodies of three
persons were retrieved by the locals while two were still missing. The deceased were identified as Pritesh Lankeshwar Nanda Gawali (32) and his brother, a police constable from Akola, Chetan Lankeshwar Nanda Gawali (37), college student Chetan and one Ujwal Prakash Vakode (25), a mechanic.
However, the two other tourists — Kiran Omprakash Mhaske and Shubham Gajanan Vaidya – were still missing.
All the 14 are residents of Mothi Umbri Vithal Nagar of Akola district, Maharashtra.
The Coastal police, along with Dhrishti, are still looking out for missing youth. However, the rough seas hampered their search.
After conducting a panchanama, the police shifted the three bodies to the Goa Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.
It is learnt that these tourists had entered into the sea before the coastal police and the Dhrishti life guards had begun their duty, which starts at 7.30 am.
It is also suspected that the tourists were under the influence of alcohol when they ventured into the sea for a bath. However, sources also claimed that the force of the wave was so strong that even a good swimmer would find it difficult to manoeuvre the might of waves and not get dragged deeper due to the strong undercurrent.
It may be recalled, that at the beginning of the monsoon, Dhrishti had already instructed that all the beaches be shut for swimming and water sports activities with a red flag posted along the coast indicating that swimming is not permitted due to rough sea conditions.
