Four teens drown in whirlpool after booze party on the beach

A booze party turned lethal for a group on Sunday when four out of seven friends ventured into the danger zone of swirling sea water and never came out. The Palghar police have fished out one body and the other three, too, are feared drowned.

The deceased was identified as Deepak Parshuram Chalwadi (20) and his body has been handed over to his parents. The Palghar police, the Tehsildar, local fishermen and lifeguards are scouring the area for the remaining three boys.

A senior officer of Palghar Police told the Free Press Journal that all the seven friends lived in the same neighbourhood of Santosh Bhawan in Nalasopara (east) and they had decided to have a booze party followed by lunch near Dadra Pada in Kelwa beach of Palghar district.

“Except for the deceased Chalwadi, all the others were between the 15 and 17 age group.

They left Nalasopara at 9 am and reached Kelwe by a local train, purchased a few bottles of beer and had it together followed by lunch in a local restaurant. Around 1pm, four of the seven youth – Dipesh Dilip Pednekar (17), Sritej Naik (15), Tushar Chipte (15) and Deepak Parshuram Chalwadi (20) decided to venture into the sea near Dadra Pada in Kelwa,” Anandrao Shivaji Kale, Assistant Inspector of Kelwa police station told the Free Press Journal.

The three other boys kept dissuading the four friends not to venture into the sea but they did not pay heed. Kale said there was a warning signboard near the beach, but the four friends were not to be deterred.

“There is a dangerous whirlpool and nobody goes there. We have placed a warning sign board but the boys, probably under the influence of alcohol, resorted to such bravado. They were possibly trapped in the whirlpool, with the sudden rise of water level,” said Kale.