Six persons, all traders from Chembur drowned at sea at Ekadara beach in Murud area of Maharashtra’s Raigad district, police said.
15 people, all small traders from Chembur suburb in Mumbai, hired a minibus and went to the beach for a picnic, an official at Murud police station said.
Once there six of them ventured into the water to swim and drowned, he said.
The others immediately raised an alarm and informed the police.
After a few hours, the body of one of the six was found floating near the beach.
Later, by the time police reached the beach-side at around 2 PM, five more bodies were found floating in the water, he said.
The bodies were brought to Murud government hospital for post mortem, the official said.
The deceased have been identified as Rohit Jhala, Vinod Zalai, Sanjay Panchal, Dinesh Pawar, Dilip Gole and Shankar Chavan (all in the age group of 40-45 years), he said.
A case has been registered in this regard, he added.
