Three young boys were downed in a ditch at a metro construction site in north-west Delhi while taking bath in floodwaters, even as the water level in river Yamuna was receding.
The boys identified as Nikhil (10), Piyush (13) and Ashish (13), all residents of Jahangirpuri, were taking a bath in the Mukundpur Chowk area when they were drowned in the ditch, officials said. These were the first deaths reported during the flood in the capital.
The incident came to light when the fire brigade received a distress call for help at 2:25 pm. The rescue workers pulled out the boys and rushed to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital where they were declared brought dead.
Yamuna, which has swelled to an all-time record of 208.66 metre at 7 PM on Wednesday had started receding and on Thursday at 7 PM, the river was flowing at 208.14 metre in the national capital.
The floods in some parts of the capital also led to a political blame game with AAP Rajya Sabha floor leader Sanjay Singh accusing the BJP and Narendra Modi government of hatching a "conspiracy" against Delhiites.
He alleged that water was released from Hathni Kund in Haryana towards Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi in balanced quantities but during July 9 and 13, all the water was released towards the national capital.
"Had water been released equally towards all the three states, the areas of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh adjacent to the Yamuna would have been safe. The seven BJP MPs from Delhi should have appealed to the Haryana government and the Prime Minister to release water equally in UP, Haryana and Delhi, but they did not do so," he alleged.
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged in the presence of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena that there was a delay in the deployment of NDRF in repairing an irrigation department regulator that exacerbated the city's already dire flood situation.
"We wrote to the chief secretary on WhatsApp last night to call NDRF else water might enter sensitive areas of Delhi... But, our messages were ignored," the Delhi minister told reporters in the presence of Saxena.
However, Saxena asked Bharadwaj not to indulge in a blame game and added, "this is the time for teamwork, not blaming each other. I could say a lot of things too, but it's not necessary at the moment."