Tanya Soni, one of the three IAS aspirants who died due to flooding in the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar last week, told others not to panic, according to a student who managed to escape the building.
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Rishabh, a Ghaziabad resident, was among 25-30 students who were trapped in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle on the evening of July 27; the flooding occurred due to heavy rain.
Tanya, Shreya Yadav, and Nevin Delvin lost their lives in the incident, prompting furious protests from civil services aspirants studying in the national capital.
“We were in the library when the water started entering the building. About 10-12 students, who were near the gate, managed to rush out. However, around 15 of us got trapped due to due to heavy flow of water on the stairs,” Rishabh told PTI.
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The IAS aspirant from batch M33 that commenced in June, recalled how those who were left behind, ‘lost all hope.’
{{/usCountry}}The IAS aspirant from batch M33 that commenced in June, recalled how those who were left behind, ‘lost all hope.’
{{/usCountry}}“But Tanya, who was my batchmate, said there was no need to panic, and we would be saved. She also proposed forming a human chain. We tried forming the chain but due to the flow of water, we could not hold on,” Rishabh stated.
“As the water kept gushing in, both Tanya and Shreya stood on a table. I somehow mustered courage and began climbing the stairs. Halfway along the stairs, a housekeeping staff extended his hand towards me and pulled me up,” he added.
Tanya and Shreya, however, did not move towards the stairs as they were possibly scared of the intensity of the water gushing inside, he recounted, adding that he was not aware of Nevin's whereabouts, as the latter might have been in the toilet at the time.
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“My friend Nakul was the last one to come out and informed us that the two girls were still inside,” Rishabh said.
Rishabh, who lives with his parents and paid ₹1.75 lakh for his year-long course at the institute, lauded its staff, saying that had they not acted swiftly, the number of casualties could have been more.