Out for a swim, six drown in Arabian Sea in Raigad

Six tourists from Mumbai drowned in the Arabian Sea off Maharashtra's Raigad after they went for a swim Sunday morning, police said.

The incident occurred when the six, part of a 15-strong group of tourists from Chembur in Mumbai, stepped in the choppy sea waters of Murud beach for a swim.

Local villagers and fisherfolk, with the help of police, managed to retrieve the bodies of all the six victims later.

Some villagers claimed that they have been warning picnickers and tourists at the beaches to avoid entering the rough Arabian Sea in view of the monsoon season, but many fail to heed them.

The victims, all in their forties, have been identified as Vinod Ajjai, Dinesh Pawar, Shankar Chavan, Rohit Jhala, Dilip Ghole and Sanjay Pawar.

Their bodies were expected to be brought back to Mumbai later Sunday for the last rites.