Three civil services aspirants die as basement of coaching centre flooded in central Delhi

NEW DELHI: Three civil services aspirants have died after the basement of a building housing a coaching centre was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area, officials said.

According to the Delhi Fire Department (DFS), a call about waterlogging was received from Rau's IAS Study Circle at around 7 pm on Saturday about the basement of the coaching institute being flooded.

"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 reporters.

A fire department official said that a total of five tenders were rushed to the site. The basement was full of water when they arrived.

The bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the site during the rescue operation by the NDRF, local police and fire department, the official said.

The identities of the deceased were not revealed by the authorities.

The rescue operation was continuing past midnight.

Water is being pumped out from the basement, where the water level is still 7 feet, DCP Harshavardhan told reporters.

Students held a protest over the deaths of the civil services aspirants, raising slogans against authorities.

Revenue Minister Atishi directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to initiate an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours on the incident.

"A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened. Whoever is responsible for this incident will not be spared," Atishi posted on X.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj visited the site and blamed the AAP administration for the incident, saying the local MLA had ignored repeated appeals by locals to get the drains cleaned.

"Delhi Government's criminal negligence is responsible for this mishap. Jal Board Minister Atishi and local MLA Durgesh Pathak should take responsibility and resign," Sachdeva said.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the basement housed a library where several students were present. Water suddenly started flooding the basement. Ropes were used to evacuate the trapped students, the officials said.

The furniture in the coaching centre started floating when it was flooded and this created obstruction in the rescue operation, a police officer said.

Earlier this week, a 26-year-old civil services aspirant was electrocuted after he touched an iron gate that had electricity running through it following heavy rain in central Delhi's Patel Nagar area

BJP leader Manjinder Sirsa claimed that 18 people were still trapped but there was no official confirmation.

Swaraj said that divers had to be called to rescue the students.

"For the past week, locals were urging AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak to get the drain here cleaned. However, Durgesh Pathak didn't listen to them. Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak and the AAP government are entirely responsible for this incident," she said.