Police have named the eight students who drowned off Diveagar beach in Raigad district, Maharashtra, India, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, all aged 16 and residents of Alandi: Rajveer Yuvraj Vahile, Tanmay Dattatray Vahile, Soham Tukaram Bhandvalkar, Kaustubh Sandeep Daund, Yash Kiran Wankhede, Kaivalya Satish Wasankar, Sumit Bharat Ahire and Pranav Ramdas Bansode.
The eight drowned after venturing into the sea and being swept away during a picnic, police said. They were Class XI and Class XII students from Winners Academy, a private coaching institute in Alandi, Pune district.
The water’s depth and the strength of the current were both misjudged by the eight, who were then pulled out to sea, a police official said. The outing had brought 48 people to the coast in total — six teachers along with 25 boys and 17 girls, the official said.
What Police Said Happened
The group had first visited Raigad Fort and reached Diveagar in the afternoon, said Assistant Police Inspector Santosh Awati, who is in charge of the Dighi Coastal police station. The students entered the sea around 3 p.m. on Oct. 1, and workers from a local water sports club recovered the bodies of all eight by 5 p.m., after students and teachers on the beach raised an alarm.
An alert brought Search and rescue teams hurrying to the spot, and they set about pulling bodies from the water. “By the evening, even the missing student’s body was found,” a senior police officer said.
The bodies were sent to Shrivardhan Rural Hospital for postmortem. Local residents, working alongside rescue workers, brought all eight boys out of the sea and carried them to the primary health center at Borli; doctors there declared them dead, the officer said.
The 34 surviving students were shifted to a hotel in Diveagar on Oct. 1. Police registered an accidental death report, and police personnel and local authorities are carrying out further legal and administrative formalities, the official said.
Officials Respond to Deaths
Maharashtra Minister Bharatshet Gogawale visited the hospital where the bodies were taken on Oct. 1 and told ANI: “It is a tragic incident. We will send the bodies back to the students’ villages after the post-mortem.”
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called the deaths of the Winners Academy students “extremely tragic and painful.” Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, Pune’s guardian minister, said on Oct. 1: “The drowning of eight students from Alandi is extremely tragic. I spoke to the Raigad district collector and superintendent of police, and instructed them to take all necessary actions.”
Pimpri-Chinchwad ACP Yogesh Ranjankar said the same day, per ANI: “We are in touch with the senior administration and local authorities in Raigad. We have let them know that we are ready to help with whatever legal action is currently underway there.”
Local residents gathered outside Winners Academy in Alandi late on the night of Oct. 1. The Alandi Municipal Council sealed the academy on Friday, Oct. 2, saying it had been running without a business no-objection certificate and trade license. Alandi observed a shutdown the same day as families held last rites for the eight boys.
Earlier Drownings at Murud
A busload of students has drowned along Raigad’s coastline before. Pune’s Abeda Inamdar Senior College lost 14 students at Murud beach on Feb. 1, 2016, at a spot about 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Mumbai. Girls accounted for ten of the victims, and every one of those who died was aged between 18 and 20. According to initial information, 10 students had linked arms in a human chain to save four drowning campus mates and were dragged under themselves.
A picnic group of 130 had included the students, Raigad police said. About 10 staff members, including teachers, had accompanied them, college authorities said. Thirteen bodies were recovered by the Navy and the Coast Guard on Feb. 1, 2016, and Madaki Saif Ahmed’s body turned up the following morning, Feb. 2, 2016. For the last rites, hundreds of relatives and friends gathered at burial grounds and crematoriums across Pune. A holiday was declared by the college on Feb. 2, 2016, to pay homage to the dead, while the Maharashtra government announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin.
Court Questioned Beach Safety Rules
The Bombay High Court sought a probe on Feb. 3, 2016, into the drowning of the 14 students at Murud-Janjira, and it asked the state to explain why beach safety rules were not being enforced there. Justice Naresh Patil headed a bench that directed the state to report on conditions at beaches across Raigad district and asked why an existing government resolution on beach safety had not been implemented.
Bhagwanji Raiyani of Janhit Manch, a nongovernmental organization, had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in 2009, and the hearing revived it. Civic authorities had earlier been ordered by the court to ensure the adequate appointment of lifeguards, watch towers and floodlights at night. Advocates Jamshed Mistry and Pradeep Havnur, appearing for the petitioner, pointed to Goa’s beach patrolling unit as a model for Maharashtra and said many of the court’s directions remained unimplemented at most beaches. Feb. 12, 2016, was set by the bench as the next date for the matter.