I jumped in... but regret not being able to save him: Delivery executive

“I was passing by. I saw the accident and I jumped in, without wasting time. But the biggest regret of my life is that I couldn’t save the person who was screaming for help,” said Singh

For 26-year-old Moninder Singh, his regret at not being able to save the 27-year-old who drowned in a water-filled pit on a plot in Noida’s Sector 150 is tinged with indignation.

MoninderSingh, the delivery executive, said he was out on a delivery when he passed by the accident spot. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

“Everyone was saying that if you had come around five minutes earlier, Yuvraj Mehta could have been saved,” the Flipkart delivery executive who lives barely 2 km from the accident spot and works in the area, told HT on Monday. “My question is: Am I a policeman, a firefighter, or an emergency service employee?

“I was passing by. I saw the accident and I jumped in, without wasting time. But the biggest regret of my life is that I couldn’t save the person who was screaming for help for nearly 90 minutes,” said Singh.

Mehta, a software engineer died, early on Saturday after his car rammed into the boundary wall of a drain and plunged into a waterlogged construction site.

Singh said he was out on a delivery when he passed by the accident spot. “While passing the 90-degree turn in Sector 150, I noticed 10 to 12 policemen and firefighters trying to place a ladder and enter the water-filled plot.”

On making inquiries, he was told that a 27-year-old had drowned there just five minutes ago. “I told the emergency personnel that I would enter the water. They asked if I knew how to swim, and then handed me a life jacket,” Singh said. “After 30 minutes of searching in dense fog and cold water, I was unable to locate him. I reached near his car, but he had already drowned.”

Singh said most of the policemen present there were middle-aged and didn’t know how to swim. “They all had life jackets, ropes, and other safety equipment. They could have reached the spot but instead waited for the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), which arrived around 4:30 am. I left after spending three to four hours at the spot. Later, I came to know that the body was recovered after 7 pm when they reached the site using a boat.”

According to Singh, a fortnight earlier, a truck had also met with an accident at the same spot, breaking the drain’s boundary wall. “Similarly, around 1.30 am about two weeks ago, I rescued a truck driver using a rope. Fortunately, he was close to the boundary wall. This is a dangerous spot, and the authorities should have closed or fenced the area before such incidents occurred.”

“Since Saturday, I have not been able to sleep properly. I saw a man die in front of his father and emergency services whose responsibility is to save lives. Everyone kept saying the water was too cold and that they didn’t know how to swim, but someone’s son could have been saved if they had responded properly,” Singh added.

Gurinder Singh, the truck driver who met with an accident a fortnight ago, told HT, “I was transporting steel bars from Noida to Punjab when I broke through the boundary wall in Sector 150. My truck fortunately stopped at the edge of the plot, and locals rescued me. Police officers were also present at the time, but they (locals) made a lot of effort to rescue me.”

“That is a very dangerous spot. Authorities should have installed signboards and barricades at the sharp turn. Due to the lack of warning signs and reflectors, I met with the accident,” the Punjab resident added.

Police, however, denied to have received any request for barricades or signage at the spot.

Manisha Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Noida (traffic), said, “We never received any complaint about putting up barricades or the lack of signboards. If they (locals) approached Noida authority, it is not in our knowledge.”

Another senior official from Noida traffic police, requesting anonymity, said, “The reflectors, fencing and barricades are to be done by the construction agency or Noida authority if they pose any risk. For instance, at the Greater Noida underpass work, the construction agency covered the area using barricades. If we were informed of the danger earlier, we would have written to the concerned department for rectification.”