Drowned students laid to rest

The Abeda Inamdar College in Pune remained shut on Tuesday to mourn the loss of its 14 students who drowned during the college picnic at Murud beach on Monday afternoon. A large number of people participated in the funeral procession of the students who were laid to rest on Tuesday afternoon. One of the students who survived the tragedy recounted his experience and confirmed the allegation of the college management regarding the absence of lifeguards when the tragedy took place. The management has said that it will be preparing a fact-finding report of the incident and submitting it to the authorities. Meanwhile, the search operations by the Coast Guard ended on Tuesday morning after the body of Saif Madki was fished out of the waters.

Recalling the events just before some of his fellow students drowned, Arbaaz Sayyed, who managed to save himself said that after wading into the water, the sand under the feet of the students gave way and my friend Swapnali and three others started drowning. “Even as Iftekhar and I were going towards the girls to save them, the sand under my feet gave way and I started to sink. I managed to resurface and shouted for help but there was no response from the beach. As I am not a good swimmer, I abandoned the girls and swam back to the shore.

However, Iftekhar who is a good swimmer went ahead and kept Aafiya afloat. But after the rescue boats saved her, he drowned,” said Sayyed, who is still in a state of shock.

The neighbours of the twin sisters Rafiya and Shafiya Ansari, who drowned in the incident said that the Ansari family was in a state of shock and disbelief. “It is impossible to believe that the twins are no more. They were bright and were very religious too. It is hard to believe that they are no more,” said Sabir Shaikh, a neighbour of the Ansari family.

Mr P.A Inamdar, trustee of the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society-run Abeda Inamdar College said that rather than playing the blame game, it was time to take stock of the situation and come out with facts. “We are conducting an inquiry into the incident and will prepare a report that will be submitted to the authorities. We also plan to make a booklet on precautionary measures that should be taken during such outings and will submit it to Pune University for distribution to other colleges, so that a repeat of such a tragedy can be averted,” said Inamdar.

Meanwhile students of the adjoining MA Rangoonwala College were in a state of shock and felt that the incident would put an end to future outings for most colleges. “We are sad that the 14 students drowned and died but most of us are worried that it could bring an end to college excursions. We just hope that the authorities do not take a harsh decision as some of these outings are purely educational and beneficial for the students,” said the student, requesting anonymity.