Techie, 27, drowns in Greater Noida after his car crashes into waterlogged construction site

A 27-year-old man drowned after his car fell into a water-filled basement in Noida. Delayed rescue efforts failed to save him.

A 27-year-old man, whose car broke through the boundary wall of a roadside drain and plunged into a water-filled basement site of an under-construction building in Sector 150, reportedly drowned to death after being trapped and failing to receive help for around two hours since falling in, according to the man’s family and eyewitnesses.

The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, 27, had called his father after falling around midnight, and the father reached the spot, but could not secure help. (HT Photo)

The victim, Yuvraj Mehta, 27, had called his father after falling around midnight, and the father reached the spot, but could not secure help.

“My son himself called me while he was trapped. He said, ‘papa, I am stuck, the car has fallen into the drain’,” said Raj Kumar Mehta, the father of the deceased, told HT.

“The police did reach there, but they were unable to do much because they did not have a swimmer with them. If there had been a swimmer, someone could have reached him, as the water was very deep,” he said.

Police said Mehta lived in a high-rise in Sector 150 with his father and worked as a software engineer in Gurugram.An eyewitness, Moninder (single name), said the victim remained trapped in the submerged vehicle for one to two hours. “For around one hour and forty-five minutes, he kept pleading for help, saying, ‘please save me, save me in any way possible,’” Moninder told mediapersons.

The police, around midnight, roped in teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the state disaster response force, and the fire department. After several hours of searching, the teams recovered the body of the deceased.

“The rescue operation took some time. We were at the spot till around 5am,” said chief fire officer Pradeep Kumar Chaubey.

However, the victim’s friends said the teams were unable to respond in a timely manner. “The rescue teams arrived only by 2.30am and could not even enter the water till 3.20am,” said Pankaj, a friend of the deceased.

Police said preliminary investigation pointed to low visibility and speeding as possible causes of the accident. “They had dug a large drain, around six to seven feet wide. Due to poor visibility and high speed, the driver appears to have lost control,” said assistant commissioner of police Hemant Upadhyay.

In his police complaint, accessed by Hindustan Times, Mehta’s father alleged that residents of Sector 150 had requested the Noida authority to install barricading and reflectors near the drain, but no action was taken.

Upadhyay said that although the boundary wall was damaged in parts, it was unclear how the car plunged into the basement and was fully submerged.

AK Arora, general manager (civil) of the Noida authority, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Police said the body has been sent for an autopsy. An official from the Knowledge Park police station said that while no case was filed, a memorandum will be sent to the Noida authority.

Police added that the car was also washed away after the body was pulled out and that operations will continue on Sunday to retrieve it.