A jolly trip of a group of 10 youngsters from the city turned tragic as six of them were feared to have drowned at Yarada Beach on Sunday. The incident reported on the first day of the picnic season has sent shock waves to the city.
All the youth are said to be from Durga Nagar area of HB Colony, Seethammadhara. The missing youth have been identified as D. Vasu, P. Tirupathi, K. Srinivas, N. Ganesh, Rajesh and Durga Rao, all aged between 20 and 22 years.
Among the youth, a few work in electrical shops, while one is an ITI student and another is an auto-rickshaw driver.
According to reports, 10 youngsters had gone to Yarada Beach in the evening. They entered the waters and strong currents reportedly sucked them in. Noticing them drowning, the community guards present at the beach swang into action as some visitors also joined them. After their best possible efforts, they could pull four boys out of the harm’s way.
Being informed, personnel from the New Port Police reached the spot. They, with the help of fishermen, community guards and teams launched a search operation. However, string tide situation made the operation a tough task. It is learnt that police are planning to approach the naval officials for help in the search operations.
Rip current
The Yarada Beach remains a dangerous beach in the city with strong rip currents becoming its characteristics feature.
Moreover, the locals say that the beach has been witnessing strong tides since Saturday.
