Bhatkal: Two youths have gone missing after drowning in the Honalli beach in Kumta taluk, 60kms away from Bhatkal. The search for missing persons was stopped only with the onset dusk, but to no avail.

According to sources, the two friends who were identified as Venu Gopal Naik (22) of Chitarki from Kumta and Lohit Bhandari (22) of Valkalli, were busy chatting sitting on a rock near the sea shore, when a huge wave hit the rock and washed away both of them. As a result, both the friends got drowned in seconds.

The incident occurred at about 5.30 pm on Friday. The local police tried to search for the missing boys with the help of native fishermen till the onset of darkness, but were not successful in the task.

Heavy rainfall is being recorded in coastal Karnataka from more than a week. Even a sea-storm was reported today, due to which stepping into the sea for the search was not free of risk.

A case has been registers in Kumta police station.