Three engineering students drowned in Chennai’s Marina beach on Sunday and are feared dead by the police. While the body of one of the students was washed ashore by the waves, the search is still on for the other two students.

The incident happened on Sunday, when eight students from Sri Venkateswara College in Sriperumbudur visited Marina beach. According to the police, all eight students were hostellers in the college and were on an outing to Marina beach.

Of the eight students in the group, three students – Dinesh of Tirumullaivoyal, Bharadwaj of Tindivanam and Jayakeerthi Varma of Dharmapuri – went to the beach to play and five others decided to remain on the shore, as per news reports. As the students on the shore realised that their friends had gone missing, they started searching for them.

The students then saw the slippers of their missing friends being washed ashore by the waves and alerted the police. The local fishermen also launched a search for the missing students. Dinesh’s body was washed ashore later on Sunday, while the other two are still missing. Police sent Dinesh’s body for autopsy to Royapettah Government Hospital. The police have registered an FIR in the incident and a probe is on.

Officials from the Coastal Security Group told The Times of India that the stretch close to the Adyar estuary – the place where Adyar river joins the Bay of Bengal – was not appropriate for swimming since the water is deep and the tidal waves are strong.

In June, two school students had drowned off Marina when they went swimming in the sea. The victims were studying in Class 9 in a private school at Vadapalani in Chennai and were reportedly dragged into the sea by the waves as they went in deep to swim.