2 Tamil Nadu tourists drown while clicking selfies on Goa beaches

Two tourists from Tamil Nadu drowned in separate incidents while clicking selfies in the Arabian Sea in Goa, the police said today.

A group of eight tourists from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu visited the Baga beach in North Goa district on Saturday evening. “Three of the group members went to a rocky stretch in the waters. As they were clicking selfies on their mobile phones, a strong sea wave hit them,” Calangute police inspector Jivba Dalvisaid. While two of the group members managed to swim to safety, the third person, identified as Dinesh Kumar Ranganathan (28) from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, drowned in the waters, he said. The body was fished out later.

In a similar incident, four tourists from Tamil Nadu went to enjoy at a rocky patch in the waters at Siquerim beach near Fort Aguada in North Goa yesterday morning, Dalvi said. As they were clicking pictures on their phones while sitting on rocks, one of them got swept away in the strong sea waves and drowned, he said.

The deceased was identified as Sasikumar Vasan (33). After the police conducted the inquest procedure in both the cases, the bodies were shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital near here for postmortem, Dalvi added.

The Goa government had last month issued an advisory asking tourists to refrain from swimming in sea waters along beaches for four months starting from June 1. The state government shuts down beaches for swimming and other water sports activities during the monsoon from June to August each year as a precautionary step.

A firm appointed by the Goa government to provide lifeguards at beaches had recently said that red flags will be put up at beaches in the state to warn people about dangers of wading or swimming in the sea during the monsoon.