Eight drown at 3 different places along east coast

PUDUCHERRY/CHENNAI: The Bay of Bengal's east coast between Puducherry and Uthandi witnessed the drowning of at least eight youths, aged between 15 and 26 years, in three separate incidents reported on Sunday and Monday.
While bodies of three of the four school students have been recovered in Puducherry, one is still missing.
As for Tamil Nadu, bodies of all the four, who had drowned in two different incidents in Mamallapuram and Uthandi, have been recovered.
Puducherry police said a Class XII student M Naveen, 17 from Ellaipillaichavady, S Mohana, 17, from Nellithope, a Class XII student in a government school, and her sister S Lekha, 15, a Class X student from the same school, and M Kishore, 17, a catering college student, came to the Rock Beach in the town to celebrate New Year on Sunday afternoon. Mohana's mother S Meenakshi, 47 had also accompanied the teenagers.
Meenakshi was at the seashore watching her two daughters frolicking in the sea with their friends. As the four ventured deeper into the sea, a giant wave dragged them in. On hearing their cries for help, local fishermen tried to save them, but in vain. A team from Odiansalai police station launched a search, but could not trace the teenagers.
Later, the bodies of Mohana and Lekha were washed ashore at Veerampattinam while Kishore's body was washed ashore at Chinna Veerampattinam. Naveen is yet to be traced.
At Uthandi, two men from Washermenpet Raja, 25 and Damodharan, 26, employees at a private company went to a resort on Sunday to celebrate the New Year. After revelry, the two decided to return home early on Monday morning. While returning on their bikes, the duo attempted twice to enter the beach, but policemen on duty stopped them. However, they managed to sneak into a beach and played in the waters, when they were dragged in by a giant wave. The local fishermen, who noticed the incident, alerted Kanathur police. They fished out the bodies and sent it for a postmortem.
At Mamallapuram, two college students Rithik, 18 of Erode and Suviksha, 18 of Madipakkam were washed away on Sunday when they left their bicycles on the shore and frolicked in the waters.
Police said that the duo were civil engineering students at a private college in Kalavakkam and were staying in hostels. After reaching a beach at Mamallapuram in their cycles, they went to play in the sea when they were pulled away by a wave. Locals alerted police as they found the bicycles lying abandoned on the sand for a long time.
As police were searching for them, Suviksha's body was washed ashore near Sulerikadu Kuppam while Rithik was washed ashore near Nemmeli Kuppam.
At least 11 people have drowned in the last four days alone, at various locations on the east coast. Locals have demanded more intense police patrol along the beach stretches during weekends to prevent such drownings.