Four people, including three teenagers, drowned in the sea near the Paradise Point beach in Karachi on Sunday, police said.

The four were residents of the Buffer Zone area. They drowned early Sunday morning while at the beach for a picnic, Station House Officer (SHO) Maripur Muhammad Iqbal said.

The deceased were identified as Raba Ghaus, Zubair Majeed, Misal Mahnaz ─ aged between 15 and 18 years ─ and Danish, 25, the SHO added.

All four bodies were retrieved from the sea, Iqbal said.

Drowning incidents are not uncommon, especially during the monsoon season. While picnickers have blamed the incidents on the absence of lifeguards, authorities put the onus on picnickers for not being careful while swimming in rough seas amid poor security and administrative arrangements.

In the worst such incident, 41 picnickers had drowned off Clifton’s Sea View beach during Eid holidays in August 2014. The incident was the first involving Sea View, which is regarded as a relatively safer point for beach goers.