Three Class 9 students visiting Vizag beach on school holiday drown in sea

Three Class 9 students drowned after being swept away by strong waves at Rushikonda beach in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Friday, with the bodies of all three recovered later that evening and on Saturday morning, police said.

The deceased were identified as Pilla Prashanth, Sattaruvu Suryaprakash and Sabbavarapu Ritesh, all around 14 years old and residents of the Madhurawada area. While Prashanth’s body was recovered late in the evening, the bodies of the other two were found on the beach in the early hours of Saturday, an official from Pothinamallayyapalem said.

What happened?

The incident occurred near IT Park Junction on Bheemili beach road, close to Rushikonda, when the students had gone to the beach along with three other friends during the school holiday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

According to the police, six boys, residents of Vambay Colony and Pothinamallayyapalem and Class 9 students of a private school in Madhurawada, reached the beach at around 3pm.

Four of them, including the three victims and another student, Sattaruvu Hemanth, entered the sea, while two others — Prasagada Hemanth Kumar and Anamakonda Nagesh — remained on the shore.

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“The four boys were reportedly standing in knee-deep water when a huge wave suddenly struck them. Hemanth managed to reach the shore, but Suryaprakash, Ritesh and Prashanth were dragged into deeper waters by the strong current,” the police said.

Search operation

On receiving information about the incident, Coast Guard personnel, including a helicopter, Marine Police, Pothinamallayyapalem police, beach lifeguards and local fishermen joined the search operation.

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After an extensive search, Prashanth’s body was recovered from the sea later in the evening. Search operations were intensified for Suryaprakash and Ritesh, but their whereabouts remained unknown. “On Saturday morning, their bodies washed ashore on the beach,” the police official said.

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Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi reached the scene after being alerted about the incident and personally monitored the rescue and search operations.