‘At first, the water trickled in slowly. Then it turned into a deluge’: Student who got out of Delhi coaching centre library

Anmol said he was sitting near the library’s door when a security guard came rushing down, screaming that water was about to enter the library and that everyone should get out immediately.

“At first, the water trickled in slowly. All of a sudden, it turned into a deluge. Some of us students managed to run up the stairs and get out, but 8-9 persons were still stuck inside… so we fashioned ropes out of pieces of cloth and threw them down, but to no avail. It was a horrific scene… we couldn’t understand what was happening… I then called the police,” said Anmol.

How the UPSC coaching centre in Delhi got flooded

By this time, according to eyewitnesses, two security guards on the second floor switched off the electricity supply to prevent electrocution and rushed to the basement to check if any students were trapped.

Around the same time, a student who had stepped out for a walk at 6.30 pm, returned to collect his belongings — his tablet and books — only to find scenes of panic and people rushing out of the building. “The basement was getting flooded. People were coming out of the building, from the first and second floors. There was enough water in the basement by then, blocking the exit,” he said.

In 15-20 minutes, five fire tenders with four water pumps deployed by DFS Chief Atul Garg arrived at the spot by 7.25 pm. Police teams from the Central district had reached by then.

Garg said they started to pump out the water but it kept flowing back into the basement. “The water being taken out was not getting drained out and was returning to the basement. This made rescue operations difficult,” he said.

Subsequently, divers from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were called in; they arrived by 8.30 pm. Said an officer, “The NDRF teams faced difficulty in spotting the students as books and furniture were floating around in dirty water, leading to poor visibility. At least four-five divers had to go down and search in every direction.”

At 10.39 pm, the first body, that of a woman, was recovered by the DFS and NDRF divers. “At this time, the water level was at around six feet so the body could be spotted… At 11.20 pm, we found the second body, also of a woman,” said another officer.

It was at 1.10 am that divers found the body of a man.

A student from Next IAS, who saw one of the bodies being taken out, said the flow of water couldn’t be controlled. “They had been pumping out the water for four hours… police managed to rescue 4-5 students. The NDRF said there were two confirmed deaths, but only one body has been taken out till now,” he said.

Sharing a video clip of the flooding outside the coaching centre on his Instagram account, Garg wrote: “This is the reason why water gushed into the basement. Because of vehicle movement, water thrust caused the main gate to collapse and allowed all water accumulated on the road to rush into the building, giving very little time for students to escape.”