At least three members of a family drowned in the Arabian Sea in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra during a picnic on Friday while four others went missing, the police said.
A 16-year-old girl, who was part of the group, was rescued, an official said.
According to him, the incident occurred around 4 pm off the Shiroda-Velaghar beach, located more than 490 km from Mumbai.
"Eight members of a family were on a picnic. While two of them were from Kudal (in Sindhudurg), six others had arrived from Belgaum (Belagavi in Karnataka)," he said.
All eight of them ventured into the sea for swimming. However, shortly thereafter, they started drowning as they failed to gauge the depth of water, he said.
After being alerted, the police and local disaster management teams launched a rescue operation. During the search, they recovered the bodies of three victims, while four others are still missing, the official added.
A 16-year-old girl was rescued by the teams, he said, adding that a search for the remaining four was on till late evening.
The deceased were identified as Fareen Irfan Kittur (34), Ibad Irfan Kittur (13), and Nameera Aftab Akhtar (16).
Those missing were identified as Ifran Mohammad Kittur (36), Ikwan Imran Kittur (15), Farhan Maniyar (25) and Zakir Nisar Maniyar (13).