VISAKHAPATNAM/KAKINADA/VIJAYAWADA: Seven persons including two Nigerian students drowned in the sea at three different places in the State on Sunday. The bodies of five were retrieved and the search was on for the other two.
In Visakhapatnam, a group of five friends, who were in the city to attend a school reunion meeting, ventured into the sea for a bath at Mutyalapalem beach. However, they got caught in swirling waves and drowned. Police, who were posted at the beach rushed to their rescue, but were able to save only one of them, while the other four met watery grave. Later, the bodies of three were retrieved and search was on for the other one.
Parawada police who registered a case said that deceased were identified as P Mahesh, M Naresh, and S Ramakrishna, all in the age group of 25 - 28 years and natives of Vennala Palem village in Parawada mandal. The youth who was rescued was identified as C Sandeep and the missing one was identified as Narasinga Rao. All the five were classmates and belonged to the 2005-06 batch of Parawada High School.
Meanwhile, two Nigerian students pursuing Engineering at Aditya Engineering College in Surampalem of East Godavari district drowned in the sea at Uppada near Kakinada on Sunday evening. The body of one of them was washed ashore.
According to U Kothapalli police, Immanuel (23) and Ibrahim (19) along with six of their friends went on a picnic to Uppada beach and got into the sea for a swim. The duo ventured a bit deep into the sea and got stuck when they were hit by a high tide.
Uppada police with help of local fishermen found the body of Immanuel floating in the sea. Search was still on for the other missing student. At Manginapudi beach, a boy, Gudavarthy Premchand, drowned on Sunday.