The rocky sea shore in Bandra where the incident took place this morning.
A picnic at Mumbai's Bandra went horribly wrong for a group of three girls and a stranger who tried to save them from drowning. An 18-year-old girl and the 40-year-old fisherman are feared drowned after being caught in the waves off the Bandstand promenade this morning. The girl and her friends were clicking selfies when they were swept into the Arabian sea.
Ramesh Rajaram Valunj, a fisherman, who was standing nearby jumped into the water to save the girls, police said. While Mr Valunj manged to save the other two, 18-year-old Tarannum Kamaruddin Ansari, was caught in the waves and began drowning. He went to save her and is also missing. A search operation was launched by the police and the fire brigade.
The police received an emergency call at around 11 in the morning. But the coast guard was informed about the incident only around 3pm. The message about the incident was sent to the joint operations room in the afternoon. In such cases, the Mumbai police are expected to inform coast guard officials immediately to allow rescue operations.
"The Mumbai police are not equipped to carry out rescue operation inside the sea. They can only handle rescue operations as long as the individuals are next to the shore," a coast guard official told NDTV. The coast guard has now launched search operations using a helicopter.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Kadam, told reporters, "We received a call around 10.50 am that three girls fell into the sea while clicking pictures. A boy named Ramesh from here saved two girls and he is still missing. He went missing trying to find the third girl. The police and fire brigade are here."