CUDDALORE: A picnic by a group of Class XII students , including five girls, of a private school here turned tragic after four of them drowned off Silver Beach near Cuddalore town Police said 12 students, who had appeared for the last public examination on Tuesday, decided to visit the beach in the afternoon. They changed their uniforms after the examination and reached the beach with their group leader P Hari, 17. They celebrated the successful completion of the examinations by cutting a cake on the shore.Later, a few of them led by Hari turned adventurous and ventured into the sea. None of them, barring two students who hailed from the fishermen community , could swim.Initially, Hari was dragged into the sea by a giant wave. As he shouted for help, K Vignesh, 18, and A Dhanush Varma, 17, attempted to save him. However, the two could not save Hari as he drowned within minutes.Bharani Kumar, 17, and Abhinesh, 17, on finding the other two struggling to reach the shore ventured into the sea to save them but they were also dragged in by giant waves. Fortunately, Abhinesh managed to swim back to safety.The other students on the shore, including the girls, on realizing the tragic end of their friends, absconded.The bodies of Hari, Vignesh and Varma washed ashore within a few minutes. Kumar’s body washed ashore around 7.30pm the same day.Fishermen and fire and rescue services personnel rescued Abhinesh and sent him to Cuddalore government general hospital. He was referred to Jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical education and research, Puducherry, for advanced treatment. The fishermen and fire and rescue personnel retrieved the bodies and sent them for autopsy. The bodies were handed over to their parents on Wednesday afternoon.The students, who drowned, had excelled in academic activities. All of them scored more than 450 marks in the Class X public examinations, said a relative of one of the deceased persons. “They meticulously planned to have an outing on the last day of the public examinations after a stressful academic year. They changed their uniforms before reaching the beach to ensure they were not spotted by their parents, relatives or teachers while having fun. But their outing ended in tragedy,” he said.

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