MUMBAI: Four college girls drowned in a raging waterfall in Navi Mumbai on Saturday as entire coastal Maharashtra experienced torrential rains and the region went on a high alert for the next 72 hours, officials said.
Three teenaged students — Arti Nair, Neha Dama and Shweta Nand, students of Second Year Bcom at SIES College of Arts, Commerce and Science in Nerul, Navi Mumbai — who bunked lectures for an impromptu picnic to the treacherous Pandavakada Waterfalls, drowned here on Saturday morning.
MASSIVE SEARCH
The details of another victim, Neha Ashok Jain, who hailed from Chembur are not known.
According to Senior Inspector Pradeep Tidar of Kharghar Police Station, the bodies of two girls, Arti Naik and Neha Dama have been recovered and a massive search is on to trace the other two victims.
For the second consecutive weekend, heavy rain lashed Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Ratnagiri, hitting normal life and road traffic, though suburban trains and flights continued to function with some delays.
A huge 78-metre long and 1,478 tonne cargo ship from Hazira, Gujarat, went adrift owing to heavy rains and was washed on the rocky shores of Vangaon village in Palghar early on Saturday.
HEAVY DOWNPOUR
Vangaon police chief Rahul Patil and ship’s captain V V Nair said there are 13 crew members on board who are safe, have sufficient food and water on board and await help from the Surat-based owners, M/s Eco Pronch Logistics Ltd.
The ship’s propellers and the hull have reportedly suffered damage as it hit the rocks in the Arabian Sea at 4 am, paralysing the vessel.
In another incident, a fire due to suspected electrical short circuit broke out in Navrang Building in the congested Abdul Rehman Street in south Mumbai.
Three women and a man who were trapped in the smoke were rescued safely. Mumbai, which has been experiencing virtually incessant rains since 10 days, witnessed a fresh spell of heavy downpour since midnight, with many low-lying areas in the city and suburbs, subways and arterial roads submerged under three-four feet of water, severely disrupting traffic. — IANS
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