One more body fished out, two still missing

A day after four youth drowned in Kelwa beach in Palghar district, a local fisherman on Monday retrieved out a body which was stuck between sand and mangroves just few metres away from the spot where they drowned. The body has been identified as Tushar Chipte (15).

It is the second body after the Palghar police fished out the body of Deepak Parshuram Chalwadi (20) on Sunday. The joint search operation of Palghar police, local fishermen and two lifeguards continued on Sunday night and resumed the search operations at 6am on Monday.

“A fisherman located the body at 6am on Monday and we were immediately informed. The body of Chipte has been identified by his relatives and sent to nearby primary health centre in Mahim for post-mortem,” said Anandrao Shivaji Kale, Assistant Inspector of Kelwa police station.

The water level in the sea is lowering gradually, the police said. The search operation is underway.

A group of seven youth of Nalasopara had gone to Kelwa beach for a booze party. They all boarded a train from Nalasopara on Sunday morning and reached Kelwa where the four youth - Dipesh Dilip Pednekar (17), Sritej Naik (15), Tushar Chipte (15) and Deepak Parshuram Chalwadi (20) – purchased liquor from nearby shop, downed the drink followed by lunch and ventured into the sea despite the three others - Gaurav Bhikaji Sawant (17), Sanket Sachin Jogale (17) and Devidas Ramesh Jadhav (16) – kept dissuading them. The local police said the boys ventured into the sea despite visible warning signboard near the spot.