Three civil service aspirants tragically died when the basement of their coaching centre in Delhi was glooded on Saturday evening after heavy rain in the central part of the nation's capital.
Rescuers pulled out the bodies of Shreya Yadav (who hailed from Uttar Pradesh), Nevin Dalvin (Kerala), and Tanya Soni (Telangana).
The incident has prompted a fair amount of outrage, with Congress leaders seeking a discussion on the issue in the Parliament today. Meanwhile, the person who ran the centre has been nabbed and the municipality has decided to crack down on 'illegal' coaching centres in Delhi.
Some of the students who managed to make their way out, recounted their ordeal, speaking to The Times of India.
Hridesh Chouhan, a student there, said "It was terrifying... I was just sitting, and someone barged in shouting, ‘paani aa raha hai, jaldi baahar niklo’. As we hastily tried to retrieve our laptops, books and other belongings, water surged in with huge force within minutes," adding that the library was filled with rainwater every year, but this year flooding occurred because the gate broke.
He recounted how he had also fallen while trying to exit the library using the stairs. However, he managed to come out 'somehow' while close to ten people were still stuck inside, he told TOI, while wondering how he would be able to move ahead with the mains exams scheduled for September.
Another UPSC aspirant, Aishwarya Rai of Kanpur, said "Around 35 of us were studying in the library when, all of a sudden, rainwater started flowing in. This created panic as it’s one thing to wade through waterlogged streets and quite another to have a situation similar to a dam burst where you have no means to escape."
The 30-year-old added, "Around 7pm, the staff asked us to vacate the library. The supervisor asked us to hold hands and form a human chain. But there was chaos. Everyone panicked and tried to run here and there. I saw one student fall from the stairs as the water gushed in."
Divyam, a 20-year-old, told the publication that Nakul Tiwari, 21, was in the library with Tanya, Shreya, and other students. Divyam recalled how Shreya and Tanya both held on to Nakul when the water overflowed. However, Nakul, who survived, passed out at some point and only remembered being brought out by the NDRF team.
Saumitra Tiwari, friend of another survivor, alleged that help was very late in coming.
"The incident happened at 7-7.15 pm and rescue divers came in only around 9.15 pm. The rescue operation could have been faster. Because of the delay in the arrival of water suction pumps, the situation worsened," TOI reported Tiwari say.