As heavy rainfall lashed New Delhi, three UPSC aspirants lost their lives after they got trapped in the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar which was flooded due to a drain burst. The incident happened around 7.00 pm on Saturday.
Amid the ongoing protest held by aspirants, one of the survivors of the incident, Hridesh Chauhan, shared a chilling video of when the incident unfolded. The viral video shows chaos after the basement continued to flood. Several students can be seen escaping the scene, while a group helps a man out of the water.
Sharing the video on X, Chauhan wrote that the basement flooded within ten minutes. The incident happened at 6.40 pm and police and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) were informed immediately. However, they only reached after 9.00 pm, leading to the death of three UPSC aspirants.
Chauhan also mentioned that three aspirants have been hospitalised.
Watch the viral video here:
I’m one of survivor of this horrible incident, within 10 min basement was filled it was 6.40 we called police and ndma’s but they reach after 9 PM till then my 3 #UPSCaspirants mates lost their lives 😭 3 are hospitalized pray for them🙏
who cares our life😭#RajenderNagar#upsc pic.twitter.com/hgogun1ehF— Hirdesh Chauhan🇮🇳 (@Hirdesh79842767) July 28, 2024
The video amassed over 12,09,000 views as several social media users slammed the authorities. Reacting to it, a user wrote, “This is absolutely absolutely horrific.” Another user commented, “Can we hold Judicial system responsible for this ?”
“@DelhiPolice why did you not reach on time???and now you will file an FIR on the coaching centre!!irony,” a third user reacted. “Loss of young life painful for the family.May God give help them to bear the loss. Guilty for this lapse needs to be booked. Political parties better stop blame game and improve civic condition to avoid such incidents in future,” another user wrote.
According to students present at the spot on Saturday night, the basement housed the library of the coaching centre, where students would go for self-study. According to eyewitnesses, the basement filled with 10-12 feet of water in almost no time, giving students no chance to escape. The Met department’s PUSA weather station, closest to Old Rajinder Nagar, had reported 31.5 mm of rain between 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm.