Pune: Sarthak Chaudhari (17) is struggling to come to terms with the moment he failed to save his cousin and close friend, Tanmay Vahile, four days after eight students from Alandi drowned near Diveagar beach in Raigad district.“I held his hand but he did not respond to my scream. His body was very heavy and I could not lift him. I had to leave his hand as water started entering my mouth and nose. Eventually, he drowned,” Sarthak said, breaking down while narrating the incident of last week.Sarthak, Tanmay and 40 other students of a private coaching institute in Alandi had gone on an outing on Oct 1. They first went to Raigad Fort and then to Diveagar beach. Five teachers — two men and three women — accompanied the students. Tanmay and seven other students drowned in the sea.Sarthak said Tanmay was only a few metres away when they suddenly lost their footing in the water in Diveagar. “We were in chest-deep water and our feet were grounded. The water suddenly started pulling us in. I knew swimming, so I managed to swim to safety. Tanmay and some other friends shouted for help,” he said.Sarthak grabbed Tanmay’s hand and tried to pull him out from the site. “I held his hand for a few seconds. He was scared. I screamed ‘Tanmay, Tanmay’, but he did not respond. His body had become numb and heavy. I could not pull him out. When I started struggling to breathe, I had to let him go. That scene is disturbing me deeply,” he said.According to Sarthak, the students who managed to get out of the water approached personnel involved in water sports activities for help. “They took more than five minutes to respond. Later, two watersports bikers and police personnel went into the water and pulled our friends out. By then, they were unconscious,” he said.The students were taken to a hospital and the survivors hoped their friends would be saved. “We thought water and sand might have entered their bodies and that they would recover. Later, we realised that they had died. It was an unforgettable half-an-hour. They died in front of my eyes,” Sarthak said.He said the girls in the group were in knee-deep water, away from the spot where the boys were caught in the current. The tragedy has left him traumatised.Sarthak’s family members said he had been crying inconsolably after returning home and blaming himself for being unable to save Tanmay. His mother said, “Sarthak keeps saying, ‘I couldn’t save Tanmay.’ We are very worried about his mental well-being. We have sent him to my sister’s house in Wagholi so that he can stay away from the village. At present, we are not thinking about his academic loss.”For Sarthak, the tragedy is not merely a memory of a beach trip gone wrong. It is the recollection of holding his cousin’s hand, desperately trying to pull him to safety and finally being forced to let go. “Had I been strong physically, I could have pulled him out,” said Sarthak.
