On the day of friendship, disaster struck families of five students Sunday evening when they drowned in the deep undercurrent waters of the Rushikonda Beach at Visakhapatnam.

According to ACP Mr M. Narsimha Rao, 11 students of a corporate college studying final Intermediate (MPC group) came to the beach Sunday afternoon to celebrate Friendship Day. They played cricket for some time and then 10 of them entered the waters while one remained on the shore to guard their belongings.

Seven boys were swirled inside by the strong underworld waters but local fishermen jumped into the waters and saved two of them while the other five drowned. The drowned students were identified as G. Appa Rao of NAD Kotha Road, Banerjee Jyothi Das of Gopalapatnam, K. Kishore of Sujathanagar, Pendurthy, M. B. Madina Valli of Malkapuram and N. Gnanesh of Kothavalasa.

Mr Rao said that the beach police had warned people not to go deep into waters but no one heeded their appeals.

Six more drown
In tragedies not related to friendship day revelry, six persons died due to drowning in water at three places in state on Sunday, according to reports.