At least 10 people drowned in the sea the east coast from Mamallapuram to Palavakkam in the last four days despite the police issuing warnings not to venture into the water.
The bodies of two youth from Washermenpet – Raja, 25, and Dhamodharan, 26, employees of private companies – washed ashore in the early hours of Monday at a beach in Uthandi in the Kanathur police limits. The duo had gone to the beach there to celebrate the New Year. They got drunk and went into the water, where they were dragged into the sea by a wave. The police recovered the bodies and sent them for a post-mortem.
Last Friday, four persons, including two teenagers, drowned in the sea off a beach in Kanathur along East Coast Road when they tried to rescue a girl who was struggling to stay afloat.
The police said Sivathanu, 46, of T. Nagar, his wife Swetha, daughter Niveditha 18, her uncle Naveen and her friends, Manas and Prasad, while on the way back from a visit to Mamallapuram stopped near Kanathur on East Coast Road. They were playing in the water at the beach, when a wave dragged Ms. Niveditha into the sea. Sivathanu, Manas, Prasad, and Naveen tried to rescue her but were unsuccessful and drowned. She was later rescued by fishermen.
College students Rithik, 18, of Erode, and Suvasha, 19, of Madipakkam, drowned in Mamallapuram on Saturday. Suvasha’s body was recovered near Sulerikadu Kuppam on the evening of the same day, while Rithik’s body was found near Nemmeli Kuppam on Sunday. On Saturday, Prakash, 20, of Sholinganallur, a call-taxi driver, drowned near Akkarai when he and four of his friends were bathing in the sea. In a similar incident, Shakthivel, 24, of Perungudi, drowned near Palavakkam.
Gautam Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Pallikaranai, said: “We have issued a warning to the people not to venture into the sea for bathing and other revelries since the sea is rough during this period. We will continue to enhance vigil along the coast.”