8 Alandi coaching institute students on picnic drown near Diveagar beach

Pune/Navi Mumbai: A picnic to Diveagar beach in Raigad district turned tragic on Thursday as eight students of a private coaching institute in Alandi drowned in the sea.A total of 42 students — 25 boys and 17 girls — accompanied by six teachers from Winners Academy and Study Centre in Alandi had visited Diveagar, about 160km from Pune. Some students ventured into the sea around 3pm and eight of them drowned.Workers of a local water sports club entered the sea after the remaining students and teachers on the beach raised an alarm and recovered the bodies of all eight students by 5pm. The bodies were sent to Shrivardhan Rural Hospital for postmortem. The remaining 34 students were shifted to a hotel in Diveagar.Raigad police identified the deceased as Rajveer Vahile, Soham Bhandwalkar, Kaustubh Daund, Yash Wankhede, Kaiwalya Vasankar, Tanmay Vahile, Sumit Ahire and Pranav Bansode from Alandi. All were 16 years old.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis offered condolences to the families of the deceased students. “The incident is extremely heart-wrenching. All the students were from Alandi, and the local administration is coordinating to bring their bodies home,” Fadnavis wrote on X.Deputy chief minister and Pune’s guardian minister Sunetra Pawar said, “The drowning of eight students from Alandi is extremely tragic. I spoke to the Raigad district collector and superintendent of police, and instructed them to take all necessary actions. I share the grief of families of the students who lost their lives. I pray to God to give strength to the families to bear the loss.”Assistant police inspector Santosh Awati, in charge of Dighi Coastal police station, said the students of the private coaching institute had first visited Raigad Fort. They reached Diveagar in the afternoon.Bhau Salunke, the owner of Mahakali Water Sports Club in Diveagar, told TOI that he had approached the students around 2.30pm to ask if they wanted to go on a boat ride. “The students told me that they had planned to bathe in the sea and did not want a boat ride,” he said.Eight students entered the sea. Some of them did not know how to swim. The teachers claimed that they had told the students not to venture deep into the sea, but the eight boys went to chest-deep water and were dragged by the current. “As the boys gasped for breath, the teachers and other students shouted for help,” assistant police inspector Awati said.Salunke said he learnt about the tragedy while returning home and ran back to the beach. “I saw the girls in the group crying. They told me that one of their fellow students had drowned. I immediately alerted my workers and entered the sea with two jet skis around 3.30pm,” he said.Awati said a police team reached the beach after receiving information about the accident. The eight boys were unconscious after apparently gulping down seawater while drowning.“The police attempted to give CPR to the boys, but they did not regain consciousness. They were rushed to the hospital, where they were declared brought dead. An accidental death case has been registered,” assistant police inspector Awati said.The academy said it had obtained consent forms from all enrolled students before the picnic. The deceased students were from its Std XI and XII science batches. The academy issued a statement informing parents about the tragedy and told the parents of the eight deceased students to reach Shrivardhan Rural Hospital.Pintu Vahile, the uncle of victim Tanmay Vahile, told TOI, “Tanmay was in Std XI and brilliant in academics. He had topped his school in Std X. We are yet to get details about what exactly happened. Our relatives and friends have gone to bring his body.”Rajveer Vahile and Soham Bhandwalkar, two other victims, were residents of Kelgaon, adjacent to Alandi. Rajveer’s father is the village police patil. Soham’s father is a farmer.Prashant Kurhade, the president of Alandi Municipal Council (AMC), told TOI, “The victims are from Alandi and neighbouring villages. We are in contact with their relatives. Some parents left for the site after receiving information from the police this evening. We are trying to gather information about the trip and how the coaching class organised it. Except emergency services, all businesses will remain closed on Friday to pay condolence to the students.”Madhav Khandekar, the chief officer of AMC, said the coaching institute had been operating for the past two years. “The owner is from Kolhapur. The coaching class is not registered with us,” he said.A team of police personnel was deployed in front of the coaching institute.A section of schoolteachers and residents said private coaching institutes often organised educational or recreational trips to create a “positive impression” among students and parents. “But often these trips are not organised in accordance with govt guidelines,” a schoolteacher from Alandi said.He said parents were often left with little choice when coaching institutes made such trips mandatory. “They are left with no option but to agree,” the teacher said.14 students drowned 10 years agoFourteen computer science students, including twin sisters, drowned when they ventured into the sea off Murud beach on Feb 1, 2016.Six others were rescued by local residents. Of the 14 who died, 10 were girls and four were boys. In all, 115 BSc (computer science) students had gone on a picnic to Murud in three private buses, accompanied by eight teaching and three non-teaching staff members of Abeda Inamdar College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Pune’s Camp area.(With inputs from Anurag Bende)You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in PuneStay updated with the latest Pune news. Download the TOI App.