New Delhi: A video captured by one of the UPSC aspirants shows the horrific scenes of water gushing into the basement of Rao's Study Circle in Delhi's Rajinder Nagar on Saturday from where bodies of three students --- two females and one male -- were found during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
The 18-second video shows the building flooded as hapless people try to rescue those trapped. It was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by one Hirdesh Chauhan who identified himself as one of the survivors of the tragic incident.
Chauhan in the post said the basement was submerged within 10 minutes, and the police and disaster management officials reached at 9 pm while the call was made at 6.40 pm.
"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 UPSC aspirants mates lost their lives 3 are hospitalized pray for them. who cares our life (sic)," his post read.
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🙏
— Hirdesh Chauhan🇮🇳 (@Hirdesh79842767) July 28, 2024
who cares our life😭#RajenderNagar#upsc pic.twitter.com/hgogun1ehF
The three UPSC aspirants, including two women, who were found dead after flooding in the basement of the coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar area have been identified and rescue and search operations have concluded after seven hours.
The deceased IAS aspirants were identified as Shreya Yadav, a native of Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh; Tanya Soni, whose permanent address is Telangana, and Nivin Dalwin, a resident of Kerala's Ernakulam, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) M Harsha Vardhan said.
After seven hours of rescue efforts, the NDRF ended its search at the coaching centre where the three civil services aspirants died last night when the basement of the building was flooded following heavy rains.
Students held a protest and raised slogans against authorities outside the coaching centre over the deaths in the basement, which according to a preliminary probe houses a library. "NDRF's search operation has ended and three bodies have been recovered. NDRF's rescue operation went on for around seven hours," the DCP said.
" Rescue operations were launched, along with Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Service, NDRF was also involved. By the end of the search and rescue op...3 bodies were recovered from the basement. All 3 of them have been identified and the family members have been informed...Case registered under sections 105, 106 (1), 115 (2), 290 and 35 of BNS. This case is against the coaching institute and the management of the building and those who were responsible for the maintenance of the drain of that place...so far we have detained the owner and coordinator of that coaching centre...further investigation underway," he said.
Police are looking at CCTV footage to understand the sequence of events, he said.
According to the Delhi Fire Department (DFS), a call about waterlogging was received from Rau's IAS Study Circle at around 7 pm on Saturday and there was a possibility that some people were trapped. Police said it appeared that the basement got flooded very fast due to which some people were trapped inside.
A fire department official said that a total of five tenders were rushed to the site. The basement was full of water when they arrived. Revenue Minister Atishi has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to initiate an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours on the incident. "A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened. Whoever is responsible for this incident will not be spared," Atishi posted on X on Saturday.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj visited the site and blamed the AAP administration for the incident, saying the local MLA had ignored repeated appeals by locals to get the drains cleaned. "Delhi Government's criminal negligence is responsible for this mishap. Jal Board Minister Atishi and local MLA Durgesh Pathak should take responsibility and resign," Sachdeva said.
Swaraj said that divers had to be called to rescue the students. "For the past week, locals were urging AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak to get the drain here cleaned. However, Durgesh Pathak didn't listen to them. Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak and the AAP government are entirely responsible for this incident," she said.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the basement housed a library where several students were present. Water suddenly started flooding the basement. Ropes were used to evacuate the trapped students, officials said. The furniture in the coaching centre started floating when it was flooded and this created obstruction in the rescue operation, a police officer said. Earlier this week, a 26-year-old civil services aspirant was electrocuted after he touched an iron gate following heavy rain in central Delhi's Patel Nagar area.
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3 UPSC Aspirants Dead After Flooding In Rao's IAS Coaching Centre In Central Delhi's Rajinder Nagar
