As many as seven students were feared drowned in the Bay of Bengal when they went for a dip in the sea at Pudimadaka beach in Atchutapuram Mandal of Anakapalli district on Friday afternoon.

According to the police, a group of students from DIET engineering college in Anakapalli went to the beach on Friday afternoon after completing their examination. While seven of them entered the sea for a bath and the others stayed back on the shore. Suddenly, a huge wave dragged them into the sea. The other students who were standing on the shore screamed for help. The nearby fishermen rescued one of the students, Teja and he was immediately rushed to a hospital in Anakapalli and first aid was done. Later, he was shifted to the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam city for better treatment.

The search operation is going on and till now three bodies have been fished out. They were identified as Pawan, Jagadish, and Ganesh. One body was fished out on Friday night and two were fished out on Saturday morning. Pawan, a native of Narsipatnam, Jagadish belongs to Gopalpatnam, and Ganesh, a resident of Chuchikonda died. Pall of gloom descended on the students of villages who have died.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed shock over the incident and directed the officials to extend all the help that is required to the bereaved families.

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