CHENNAI: A 19-year-old college student from Coimbatore was washed away in the sea off Marina beach on Sunday afternoon when he went for a swim in the sea. Efforts to trace him proved futile as dusk fell and the currents were heavy.

Deepak, a second year student of Visual Communication at the Bishop Appaswamy College in Coimbatore, and seven other classmates had rented two rooms in Golden Mansion on Big Street in Triplicane.

On Sunday morning, Deepak and four of his friends went to the Marina beach. Four, including Deepak, entered the sea. Finding the currents too strong to negotiate, three of them managed to return to the shore but Deepak could not.

Coast Guard search

On a complaint from the three, the Police requested the help of the Coast Guard. Coast Guard personnel, who carried out a search, abandoned the effort by 6 p.m. when the sea turned rough and it was too dark.

The Anna Square police, with whom the complaint was lodged, have informed Deepak's parents who are on their way to Chennai.

The police say there is a 50-50 chance that they might find the boy alive in some other part of the shoreline.

Summer crowds have made policing that much more difficult on the Marina.

Twenty-five policemen are on beach patrol duty every day and a police outpost has been set up near the Marina swimming pool at the behest of the Anna Square police station.

Mounted police are also involved in patrol duty at the beach.

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