7 dead including 4 boys as cyclone Biparjoy barrels towards India, Pakistan; thousands evacuated
- Among the dead were 4 boys, who drowned in rough seas off the western Indian financial hub of Mumbai
- India and Pakistan began evacuating more than 40,000 people from coastal areas, two days before a cyclone is expected to make landfall
Four boys drowned in rough seas off the western Indian financial hub of Mumbai on Tuesday as India and Pakistan began evacuating more than 40,000 people from coastal areas, two days before a cyclone is expected to make landfall.
Classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, Biparjoy meaning “disaster” in Bengali, is expected to land Thursday evening between Mandvi in India’s Gujarat province and Karachi in southern Pakistan.
Meteorologists predict maximum sustained wind speeds of 125-135 km (78-84 miles) per hour, gusting to 150km (93 miles) per hour.
“Four boys drowned at Juhu beach on Monday evening. So far, we have found the bodies of two, and the search is still ongoing to locate the remaining two,” said a police official in Mumbai, south of Gujarat.
High waves in the Arabian Sea, accompanied by heavy rains and gusting winds pounded Gujarat’s coastal areas, uprooting trees and resulting in a wall collapse that killed three people in Kutch and Rajkot districts, authorities said.