Due to rain on Saturday evening in Delhi, the basement of an IAS coaching centre in old Rajendra Nagar was flooded. Three students died due to drowning in the flood. Police said that NDRF was called after receiving information at 7 pm. The bodies of three students were recovered late at night. Meanwhile, 14 students have been evacuated safely.
The bodies of the three students who lost their lives in the accident have been brought to Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for postmortem. All three students have been identified. One of them is Navin Dalvin (28). He was from Kerala. He was preparing for IAS for the last eight months. He was also doing PhD from Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Apart from this, the deceased students have been identified as Tanya Soni (25) and Shreya Yadav (25). Shreya had joined the Rau coaching center just a month ago. She was a resident of Ambedkarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. No information has been revealed about Tanya Soni yet.
Information about how many students were trapped in the basement during this incident is not known. The library was closing at 7 pm, at that time students were coming out. Meanwhile, water started coming in with high pressure. There is only one door to exit the library. There is only one staircase to exit the basement.
Eyewitness students said that by the time we evacuated the library, the water was knee-deep. The flow was so fast that it was difficult to climb the stairs. In just 2-3 minutes, the entire basement was filled with 10-12 feet of water. Children were standing on the benches. Ropes were thrown to save the children but the water was dirty so the ropes were not visible. It is not yet clear how water suddenly entered due to high pressure. Police are investigating this. The coaching operator and coordinator have also been detained.
Fire officer Atul Garg said that 5 fire brigade vehicles have been sent to the spot. Initially, water was not coming out of the basement due to waterlogging on the road. After some time, when the water level on the road decreased, water started leaking from the basement. The water was pumped out. After this, dead bodies of students started being found.
Police said that during the rescue, the bench was floating in the water. Due to this, there were difficulties in taking the children out. Late at night, when the rescue operation was in its final stage, there was still 7 feet of water inside. The children were taken out safely with the help of ropes. Delhi government minister Atishi has directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the incident of water filling in the basement of the coaching institute and the students getting trapped and submit the report within 24 hours.
Delhi Mayor Shaili Oberoi has directed the MCD Commissioner to take action against all coaching centers which are running commercial activities in basements. This is a violation of rules. She said that the MCD officials responsible for this tragedy should be investigated immediately.