Two teenagers feared drowned at Juhu beach

Two teenagers feared drowned at Juhu beach

Duo entered water despite warnings of high tide

Priyanka Sharma. MUMBAI

The feast of St Anthony celebration ended tragically for two teenagers on Sunday morning. Alix Vijayadharan, 17, and Rostren D'Cruz, 16, who had gone to Juhu beach to enjoy the last day of their summer vacations, are feared to have drowned due to strong currents and a rough sea. The rescue operation launched by the fire brigade and the lifeguards, which continued till late into the evening, proved futile; the duo could not be located. The search was abandoned after sunset and will be resumed at sunrise on Monday, fire brigade officials said. According to the Santa Cruz police, which registered an accidental death case, eight friends, including Vijayadharan and D'Cruz, had gone to the beach, accompanied by their neighbourhood 'aunty' Catherine Tellis, 52. The police said the incident occurred at around 10.20am. "The group had reached the beach at 9am and were playing football," said KMM Prasanna, deputy commissioner of police. "The other children kept warning them, but they said they were taller and could withstand the waves." The two did not realise how far they had gone and were soon trapped in the high tide. Satveer Singh, a private lifeguard, said, "We had warned the boys to stay away and not enter the sea, but they didn't listen. We rushed towards the sea after hearing people scream, but could not save them because of the strong water currents." D'Cruz is a standard X student, studying in Holy Family School in Andheri (east), while Vijayadharan is in standard XII, studying in St Xavier's college in Vile Parle (west). Both of them, along with their group of friends, are residents of the D'Cruz chawl, Andheri (east). Tellis, a heart patient, collapsed immediately after the incident and had to be rushed to the nearby Sanjeevani Hospital for medical treatment. She was admitted in the ICU. This is not for the first time that such a mishap has occurred at the Juhu beach. Last year, more than 30 people drowned there. "We do try to caution people and tell them not to enter the sea during high tide. A high tide schedule has also been put up on the beach but people never pay heed to it," said Sunil Kanojia, who runs Sea-Guardian, a voluntary life guard association. The Juhu beach has a 4.5-km-long coastline, and has only three Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation lifeguards to guard the entire stretch. Eyewitness Ramu Solanki said that there was only one civic lifeguard patrolling the beach on Sunday morning. "Even he was missing from the scene when the two youngsters were screaming for help," Solanki said. It becomes especially difficult on weekends when more than 20,000 people throng the beach, said Naville David, president, Juhu Beach Lifeguard Association. "There is a dearth of lifeguards and the few who are deployed are ill-equipped to avert any untoward incident," David added. — With inputs from Poornima Swaminathan Source:http://www.3dsyndication.com/