Five tourists from Bangalore drown in Murudeshwar sea

July 27, 2014 | Correspondent | Bhatkallys News Bhatkal: Five persons, all tourists from Bangalore, drowned in the sea at Murudeshwar Saturday evening, sources said. Fourteen people, all belonging to the same family, hired a mini-bus and left for a tour on Friday. They visited Kuloor, Sindhoor and reached Murudeshwar Saturday at 5.30 pm from where they went to the beach for a picnic, a source informed. While they were enjoying the picnic, two girls - Hemlata and Ramya - ventured into the waters for swimming when a heavy wave washed them away, a source said. The other picnickers immediately raised an alarm and nine of them jumped to their rescue and managed to save the girls but five of them drowned in the sea. As per locals, out of nine who jumped to rescue none of them returned but the case registered in the police station has mention of only five. The victims have been identified as Siddaramana (27), Soumya Ravi Kumar (16), Savitri Ravi Kumar (38), Bhoomika Prakash (16) and Vijay Kumar (30). Bodies of four people have been recovered and search is on for the fifth. Bhatkal DSP Mr. Mutthuraj, CPI Prashanth Nayak and other police officials immediately rushed to the Murdeshwar beach soon after receiving the news. A case has been registered at Murudeshwar police station in this regard.   - ARF