{"id":365069,"date":"2026-06-18T01:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365069\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T01:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:41:11","slug":"two-california-women-swept-away-by-waves-in-santa-cruz-county-honored-in-tributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365069\/","title":{"rendered":"Two California women swept away by waves in Santa Cruz County honored in tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The families of the two Bay Area friends<\/a> who were killed after a freak wave<\/a> dragged them out to sea last week opened up about the tragedy as tributes to the two young women poured in.<\/p>\n

College students Harshita\u00a0Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, both of Fremont,\u00a0died after\u00a0a \u201csneaker wave\u201d pulled them from a keyhole on Panther Beach in Santa Cruz County<\/a> last Wednesday as dangerous swells battered the coastline.<\/p>\n

Nair \u201cleft an unforgettable mark on everyone fortunate enough to know her.\u201d hayward.chapelofthechimes.com<\/p>\n

The pair had made their way through the keyhole in Bonny Doon to sunbathe when the deadly wave sealed off their escape just before sunset, officials said.<\/p>\n

Nair was a legal studies major at UC Berkeley set to graduate next year, while Sran was set to earn her degree in public health at San Jos\u00e9 State University in 2027.<\/p>\n

Sran\u2019s teenage brother, Aagman, described his big sister as a nurturing and responsible young woman who cared for him and all the people around her. <\/p>\n

Sran \u201calways took care of whatever needed to be done.\u201d Instagram\/@mahial_22s<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always took care of whatever needed to be done,\u201d the 17-year-old told The California Post. \u201cShe always delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aagman noted that Panther Beach is considered treacherous by locals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat specific part of the beach is known to be dangerous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Both Nair and Sran graduated from Washington High School in Fremont in 2023.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s mayor, Raj Salwan, said their \u201cyoung lives were filled with promise\u201d in a statement on his Facebook page Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The two were trapped as waves and a rising tide flooded the beach. Instagram\/@viajandoporcalifornia1<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Fremont community is heartbroken by the tragic loss,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy deepest condolences are with their families, friends, classmates, and everyone grieving this unimaginable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salwan also urged residents to exercise caution at nearby beaches, as the California coast continues to be pounded by powerful southern ocean swells.<\/p>\n

\u201cSneaker waves, strong currents, and rising tides can strike without warning,\u201d Salwan said, adding: \u201cNever turn your back on the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sran was also honored by officials at San Jose State University, where spokesman Michelle Smith McDonald said the \u201centire SJSU community shares in the grief felt by those who loved and cared for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nair was \u201ca cherished sister, granddaughter, and a treasured friend.\u201d Linkedin<\/p>\n

The death of Nair, who worked at UC Berkeley\u2019s student union, caused \u201cimmense sadness\u201d at the university, said spokeswoman Ellen Top.<\/p>\n

Nair\u2019s grieving father disputed initial reports that the women were napping when the wave dragged them out to sea. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t sleeping there, because their bags were completely dry,\u201d Ahock Nair told the Post of the victims\u2019 totes, saying that if they had been asleep, the women wouldn\u2019t be napping away from their belongings. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they were sleeping, their bags would also have gone along with them, or would have been completely wet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In the days after the incident, fire officials reversed initial statements made that the women appeared to be sleeping when they were dragged into the ocean. <\/p>\n

Nair\u2019s online obituary described her as \u201ca cherished sister, granddaughter, and a treasured friend to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn her short but beautiful life, Harshita left an unforgettable mark on everyone fortunate enough to know her,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

The two were swept out to sea and killed at Panther Beach in Santa Cruz County. CAL Fire<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s\u2019 recovery marked the fifth\u00a0water rescue first responders performed over the past month along short stretch of Santa Cruz County coastline, according to Cal Fire spokesman Michael Horn.<\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours earlier, a killer wave<\/a> pulled a five-year-old girl to her death at a beach in Laguna Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The families of the two Bay Area friends who were killed after a freak wave dragged them out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,339,34552,4182,21659,3586],"class_list":["post-365069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-death","tag-drownings","tag-metro","tag-ocean","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}