Girish Shetty, Rohit Negi, Paul Verghese, Shirish Verma and Manish Yadav, all students of Ramanand College, Bhandup in the age-group of 17 to 19, left for Priyadarshini Park in the morning to play cricket. After they had played in the park for over three hours, the instructor asked them to pack up and leave. The five then decided to swim in the waters behind the park awhile before leaving for home.

At around 3 pm, the youngsters entered the water but felt the surge of strong currents within, which made swimming difficult. Soon as they raised an alarm and began screaming for help, the police, fire brigade and Coast Guard were informed. The naval operational room was activated following the SOS, and the Navycarried out aerial sorties and launched a search and rescue operation.

The Chetak helicopter returned to the naval base at INS Kunjali, Colaba, after hovering above the task area for over an hour.

Three of the five youths were pulled out of the waters and rushed to Nair Hospital. However, one of them was declared dead before admission. The deceased has been identified as Girish Shetty, while the missing youngsters are Shirish Verma and Manish Yadav, police said. Rohit Negi (17) and Paul Verghese (19), who were rescued, are reported to be critical.