New Delhi: Three boys drowned in a ditch at a metro construction site while taking a bath in floodwaters in northwest Delhi's Mukundpur Chowk area on Friday, officials said. The boys -- Nikhil (10), Piyush (13) and Ashish (13) -- were residents of northeast Delhi's Jahangirpuri, they said.
The fire department said a fire tender was rushed to the spot after information about the incident was received at 2:25 pm. Delhi Fire Services Director Atul Garg said, "Three children drowned in a ditch at a metro construction site. They were pulled out and rushed to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead."
These are the first deaths to be reported in the Delhi floods. Parts of Delhi have been inundated after the Yamuna breached its banks following days of heavy rains in the city and the upper catchment areas, prompting the evacuation of thousands from low-lying areas. The Yamuna in Delhi swelled to 207.71 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978.
After breaching a 45-year record three days ago, water levels in the Yamuna in Delhi came down to 208.17 metres at 6 pm on Friday even as several key areas in the city were inundated. On Thursday, the water level had started rising after remaining stable for three hours and reached 208.66 metres by 7 pm, three metres above the danger mark of 205.33 metres.
According to Central Water Commission (CWC) data, the water level stood at 208.57 metres in the early hours of Friday and fell marginally to 208.48 metres at 5 am. The water level in the Yamuna was 208.42 metres at 8 am. It went down further to 208.27 metres at 1 pm and 208.25 metres at 3 pm. At 6 pm, the reading stood at 208.17 metres.
The Yamuna in Delhi swelled to 207.71 metres on Wednesday, breaching its all-time record of 207.49 metres set in 1978. Floodwaters reached the entrance of the Supreme Court in central Delhi and submerged the busy ITO intersection and Rajghat as the Irrigation and Flood Control Department's regulator was damaged.
