MURUD: Fourteen students of Abeda Inamdar College, Pune, drowned at the beach here on Monday during high tide around 4 pm. Fishermen who were at the place saved several lives, according to eyewitnesses. The deceased students were aged 18-20 years, and 10 of them were girls.

A survivor said they reached Murud around 11 am and in the afternoon some of the students ventured into the sea to click selfies while others got engaged in other things. A sudden high tide that followed sucked them into the depth of the waters.

The deceased are Rafiya Ansari, Shafiya Ansari, Sumaiya Ansari, Seefa Kazi, Supriya Pan, Sana Shaikh, Swapnali Salgar, Sajeed Choudhary, Iftekar Shaikh, Samreen Shaikh, Farin Sayyed, Yusuf Ansari, Rajlaxmi Pandugayala and Saif Madki.

In three buses 116 students of first, second and third year BSc Computer Science along with 11 faculty members from the college had come to Murud for picnic. The Abeda Inamdar College, Pune, is run by the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society.

It is reported that some students stayed back at the beach as others with the teachers left sightseeing elsewhere. Those drowned strayed into the sea and was swept away by the high tide that followed. The police have file a case of accidental death.

According to Dr Pravin Bagul, medical officer at the local Murud Government hospital, six students who were rescued and brought were given medical aid and discharged while 14 were brought dead.

"We received information about 15 to 18 students being washed into the sea around 4 pm. Coast Guard aircraft IC117 and two hired fishing boats were deployed for search and rescue. So far, Coast Guard chopper ex-842SGN was launched at 6.03 pm and ICGS Achook has been diverted," naval spokesperson, Commander Rahul Sinha said, NDTV quoted.

Murud is a town in Raigad district in Maharashtra 42 km from Alibag. It is a tourist destination.