As many as three civil services aspirants died after the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajendra Nagar area was flooded after heavy rainfall hit the national capital, said officials on Saturday.
The Delhi Fire Department received a call from Rau's IAS Study Circle at around 7 pm on Saturday about the flooded and waterlogged basement, PTI reported.
"The caller told us that there was a possibility that some people were trapped. We are investigating how the entire basement was flooded. It appeared that the basement got flooded very fast due to which some people were trapped inside," DCP (Central Delhi) M Harshavardhan told media persons.
A fire department official said five fire tenders were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, the basement was found to be flooded. During the rescue operation, which involved the NDRF, local police, and fire department, the bodies of two female students and one male student were recovered.
Authorities have not disclosed the identities of the deceased. The rescue efforts continued well past midnight. Water is currently being pumped out from the basement, where the water level remains at 7 feet, the top official said as quoted by PTI.
Students held a protest over their fellow aspirants' deaths, raising slogans against authorities. Delhi Revenue Minister Atishi directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to initiate an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours on the incident.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Atishi wrote, “A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened. Whoever is responsible for this incident will not be spared.”
Following Atishi's orders, a protester expressed his anger over the incident, saying the students wanted someone from the Delhi government to take responsibility for all deaths.
"There is no one to take the responsibility. We want someone from the government to come here and take responsibility for all the students who have lost their lives. How are they improving anyone's future by making a tweet or writing a letter from their AC rooms?...," he said.
Preliminary investigations indicate the basement, which housed a library, was suddenly flooded while several students were present. Officials used ropes to evacuate those trapped. A police officer noted that floating furniture in the coaching centre obstructed the rescue operation.
(With PTI inputs)
