The 48‑person delegation from Winners’ Academy, comprising 25 boys, 17 girls and six teachers, had set out for a day‑long outing at Diveagar beach on the outskirts of Raigad district. They arrived around 5:30 p.m., when the sea was already churning with a sudden surge that would later swallow eight of the teens.
When the students ventured into the shallows, the current lured them far out, and they never returned to shore. The owners of Bhau Maruti Salunkhe Mahakali Water Sports — Bhau Salunkhe and his crew — immediately launched a frantic search, pulling the bodies from the water with ropes and breathing apparatus before the tide could take them further.
Assistant Police Inspector Santosh Awati, arriving with a rapid‑response unit, coordinated with local villagers to secure the scene. The recovered bodies were transferred to the Primary Health Centre at Borli Panchatan for post‑mortem examinations, a procedure that will determine the exact cause of death and trigger any legal follow‑up.
The victims, identified as Tanmay Dattatray Vahile, Sumit Bharat Ahire, Pranav Ramdas Bansode, Kaivalya Satish Wasankar, Rajveer Yuvraj Vahile, Yash Kiran Wankhede, Soham Tukaram Bhandwalkar and Kaustubh Sandeep Daund, were all 16 years old, turning a local holiday into a national tragedy.
The incident has prompted authorities to reassess safety measures at Diveagar, with the police now conducting a thorough investigation into the beach’s current warning systems and rescue readiness.