In a tragic accident on Friday, three young school students who visited Marina Beach in Chennai, drowned in the sea. Their bodies were found on Saturday after they were washed ashore along Neelankarai, Shastri Nagar and Thoraipakkam, reported the Hindu.
According to reports, Vinoth Kumar, Senthil Kumar and Sathish were in class 9, and studied in a government school in Tambaram. On Friday, they skipped school, took a train from Triplicane railway station and went with 12 other classmates to visit the beach. According to the Times of India, the boys took turns to guard each other's belongings and went to take a dip in the sea. In the afternoon, the group noticed that the three victims did not return to shore. They immediately alerted police personnel patrolling the beach.
“While three students guarded the bags, dress and slippers behind the Subhash Chandra Bose statue, 12 boys went bathing into the sea. Around 2.40pm, they noticed that three boys were missing and alerted the patrol police," said a police officer to TNIE.
The police then engaged local fishermen in an effort to find the bodies of the children. However, despite the search continuing till late evening on Friday, they could not be found.
On Saturday, the body of the first student washed on to Neelankarai beach. It was identified as Senthil Kumar's, and was moved to a government hospital. Following this, later that morning, bodies of Vinoth Kumar and Satish washed ashore Shastri Nagar and Thoraipakkam beaches.
Police officials have filed a case and have pointed out that the public enters the sea despite a series of warnings. The police have maintained that there are no safe zones for people who venture into the water and that they must stay close to the shore.