A 22-year-old woman from Bhandara died and a 21-year-old man from Jalgaon remains missing after three trainee employees of Cognizant were swept into the sea by a high tide at Kanathur beach on the East Coast Road (ECR) in Chennai on Saturday evening.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOThe third person, Raj Kedari, a resident of Pune camp, survived the accident.“Water was about up to our abdomen level,” Raj told the Indian Express from Chennai. “But it was high tide, and a huge wave suddenly pulled us in. I was standing farthest from the shore and after the sudden high wave, all three of us started drowning. While swimming back to the shore I managed to pull Mayuri out but could not find Jai.”“Mayuri had a pulse when she was brought to shore, but she was declared dead while being taken to a nearby private hospital,” he added.Kanathur police, alerted by the group, reached the spot and launched a search for Jai with the help of local fishermen, who also threw ropes to assist in the rescue. The search for Jai Patil is still ongoing.Raj, who completed his computer engineering degree from Modern College, Pune in 2025, mentioned that the three had met only after arriving in Chennai in early February and had become friends over the weeks of training together. “We had all shifted to Chennai on February 5,” he said. “We were from different places but became friends after meeting each other there.”The three, Mayuri Chaudhary (22) from Bhandara, Jai Patil (21) from Jalgaon, and Raj Kedari had joined Cognizant’s Chennai office on February 5 as trainees. They were midway through a three-month training programme, after which they were to be offered full-time employment.On Saturday, a group of nine trainees from the company decided to spend the weekend at Kanathur beach. Before heading to the beach, the group visited the Machiya Narayana Temple for darshan. After that, Raj, Mayuri, and Jai walked towards the shoreline and waded into the water after which they were pulled in by the wave.Story continues below this adRaj’s father, Rakesh Kedari, said he was devastated when he heard the news. “It was absolutely shocking. The loss of two lives is tragic,” he said, adding that the family was travelling to Chennai on Monday.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took to social media on Saturday to seek the Tamil Nadu government’s assistance in speeding up search and rescue operations and providing support to the families of the victims. “The state (Maharashtra) administration remains in constant contact with the concerned families and is providing all necessary help,” Fadnavis posted.Shubham Kurale is a journalist based in Pune and has studied journalism at the Ranade Institute. He primarily reports on transport and is interested in covering civic issues, sports, gig workers, environmental issues, and queer issues. X:@ShubhamKurale1 ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:pune