2 students drown in flooded basement of Delhi coaching centre after heavy rain

Screenshot from a video posted by @ANI on X.

Two female students have died and at least one other student is missing after water suddenly gushed into the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar after a nearby drain burst, causing flooding during heavy rains on Saturday. Police, fire brigade and NDRF rescued the remaining students from the building.

“There is news of an accident due to heavy rain in Delhi in the evening. There is news of the basement of a coaching institute in Rajendra Nagar getting flooded. Delhi Fire Brigade and NDRF are on the spot. Mayor of Delhi and local MLA are also there. I am taking minutely updates on the incident. A magistrate has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened. Whoever is responsible for this incident will not be spared,” Delhi Minister Atishi posted on X.

She has directed the chief secretary to launch a judicial inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours into the incident in which students were trapped in the basement of a training institute due to heavy rains and flooding, an official release from her office said.

Speaking about the incident, DCP Central M Harshavardhan told reporters that they received the information from Rao IAS Study Centre at 7 pm. He said, “At 7 pm, we received information that the basement of a USPC coaching institute in Rajender Nagar has been flooded with the possibility of people being trapped. There was waterlogging on the road due to heavy rains this evening. We are investigating the matter as to how the entire basement got flooded. It seems that the basement got flooded very quickly and people are trapped in the basement. Delhi Fire Brigade and NDRF teams are present here. Search and rescue operations are underway… So far, the dead body of a girl student has been found…”

“The death toll in the Old Rajender Nagar incident rises to two after rescue teams recovered the body of another girl: Delhi Fire Department. Search and rescue operation underway. Several students feared they were trapped,” Delhi Fire Department said.

First print: Jul 27, 2024 | 11:13 PM IST