A 20-year-old Indian student Abhigyan Patel, who vanished over the last weekend, was confirmed to be dead by drowning at Bean Point Beach on Anna Maria Island in Florida. The body was found on Monday, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said, after several local agencies, along with the US Coast Guard, started a search operation. A massive search operation was immediately launched, covering nearly 172 square miles and involving multiple agencies, including the US Coast Guard, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Longboat Key Police, Holmes Beach Police, and West Manatee Fire & Rescue.Patel was last seen swimming with another man shortly before 7 pm Sunday. The other man was rescued and brought to the shore but Patel was swept away. Police released Patel’s name Tuesday and said that his name was not disclosed earlier out of respect for his family.Patel was among five students from a Lakeland aviation school who had traveled to Anna Maria Island for a beach outing.Following Patel’s death, Anna Maria Island has now been marked as a ‘no-swim zone’. For locals, this island was always an area of danger but tourists are not stopped from swimming here. In August alone, four people were rescued from here, and two lost their lives. Patel was one of them. Fox13 reported that after the Labor Day weekend incident, signs bearing ‘no-swim zone’ were placed. “The city has taken a hard look at the Bean Point area and we have concluded we need to establish a no-swim zone at the north end of the island,” said Mayor Mark Short. “Because it’s the mouth of Tampa Bay, where Tampa Bay feeds into the Gulf, it has a lot of current, whether it’s incoming or outgoing. Even though it may not look dangerous, there’s a lot of current out there,” said Sgt. Russell Schnering, the supervisor of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit. “It looks like a great place to go and swim. There’s so much current that comes and goes out of there that if you’re not a strong swimmer you can get swept out or in by the rip tide,” said Sgt. Schnering.
