Cyclone Asani: Two tourists drown in sea at West Bengal's Mandarmani

New Delhi, May 09: The severe cyclonic storm Asani in the Bay of Bengal, packing gale-force winds up to 120 km per hour, was moving towards coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at a speed of 25 km per hour on Monday, but expected to weaken gradually over the next two days, the PTI news agency reported citing weather office.

Two tourists, including a woman, drowned in the sea in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district on Sunday (May 8, 2022), the PTI news agency reported.

The incident took place at Mandarmani and both the tourists were the residents of the Park Circus area of Kolkata.

An officer of the village's coastal police station told PTI that their bodies have been recovered and sent for post-mortem.

"They had apparently strayed beyond the sea beach and waded into the water and were swept into the sea in choppy waters. Hearing their screams the disaster management personnel who were present at the place as part of precautionary measures with Cyclone Asani approaching jumped into waters to rescue them. However, both had died when they were brought to the shore," the PTI quoted an official as saying.

"The district administration is repeatedly asking tourists to stay away from the sea in Mandarmani, Digha, Shankarpur and Talsari all tourist spots in Purba Medinipur district from Sunday afternoon but many of them are ignoring the pleas" an official of Digha Development Authority said.