Three of the ten college students who had come for a trip drowned in Charlotte Lake in Matheran near Mumbai on Sunday evening, June 15. A team from Khopoli, along with the Sahyadri Emergency Rescue Team, searched for them until late at night. The victims have been identified as Sumit Chavan (16), Aryan Khobragade (19) and Firoz Shaikh (19).
The group, college students from Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai, had travelled to Matheran for a monsoon trip. They visited the Pisharnath Temple and later went to the nearby Charlotte Lake. While having fun at the edge of the lake, one of them accidentally slipped and fell into the water. In an attempt to save him, a few friends jumped in. Two of them managed to grab the drowning youth’s hand but were also pulled under and drowned with him.
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Rescue efforts continued late into the night, and other group members alerted locals about the incident. The Matheran Police responded promptly and called in the Sahyadri Emergency Rescue Team for assistance. A team led by Gurunath Satlekar, from a Khopoli-based social organisation, also joined the rescue operations.