Visakhapatnam beach creates panic as five go missing

In a tragic incident, five people including three Class-X students are feared dead in Vizag, after they went for a swim at RK Beach. Reports suggest the 18 students had come to the beach from Mangalapalem area in Kothavalasa mandal of Vizianagaram district.

As 10 students had gone for a swim, they were caught in a strong current which pulled them deep into the sea. Seven of them were rescued by the community guard at the spot while three drowned. The missing persons, all aged around 16 years, were identified as B Varaprasad, S Sravan and K Seshu. Around the same time, another batch of 11 people from Odisha was caught in the current. Nine of them were safely brought back to the shore while two got sucked in. The guards rescued one of them as the other Korra Seetanna went missing.

The third incident involved four persons from Bihar where one identified as Babbar Khan, went missing. All these three incidents are said to have taken place around 4.30 pm and in close proximity at the RK Beach. A fisherman, K Dhanaraju, too was sucked into the waters at Yarada Beach while he was spreading his net. Even though people at the spot rescued him, he succumbed to death while being shifted to a hospital.

Currently, a search operation launched by the police is in progress to trace the missing persons with a help of marine police, life guards, fishermen and coast guard personnel.