Two persons from city drowned while bathing in the sea at Mandarmani, located 170km southwest of Kolkata in the Purba Medinipur district, on Sunday afternoon, police said.
Sarim Sarfroz, 23, lived in Park Circus in south Kolkata, and Srishti Gupta, 22, originally from Jharkhand, stayed in a rented flat in Ballygunge.
Mandarmani Coastal Police sources said the duo had reached Mandarmani on Sunday morning and had lunch at their hotel before heading for the sea.
“The waters were rougher than usual. The tourists seem to have failed to realise the speed of the waves and ventured deep into the sea. They were pulled away by the current. There were several eyewitnesses,” said a police officer.
A team of civic volunteers immediately jumped into the sea to rescue the tourists but failed. A speed boat later recovered the bodies.
Officer-in-charge (Mandarmani Coastal Police), Anuska Maity, said: “The tourists were rushed to the block hospital in Balisai, where they were declared dead. We have informed the families of the deceased. The bodies have been sent to Contai Sub-divisional Hospital for post-mortem.”