Two Indian men, Saurin Nayankumar Patel and Anshul Shah, have died at Piha Beach, west of Auckland, in New Zealand on Saturday.
The two men lost their lives at one of the most dangerous spots to enter the water.
According to local media, their family said that the two men did not know how to swim.
The Indian High Commission in Wellington is in touch with the two victims’ families.
Second secretary Durga Dass at the Indian High Commission has confirmed that the two men who lost their lives hailed from Ahmedabad, Gujarat and arrived in August and November 2022 respectively.
Dass told the media:
“It is a massive tragedy for the Indian community, the loss of these two men, and our thoughts go out to their families.”
Patel, 28-year-old, was an electrical engineer and Shah, 31-year-old, worked as a cashier at a gas station. They lived as roommates in Auckland and were on work visas.
United North Piha Surf Lifesaving Club president Robert Ferguson told media that a lifeguard in the tower spotted two people in the water near the river mouth around 200 metres from Lion Rock.
“By the time the lifeguards had got to the position where the swimmers had gone in and put their tubes and fins on and swam out, they were gone.”
It was an enormous rescue operation with lifeguards, first responders, police, paramedics, and locals.
