New Delhi (IANS): A tragic accident in Noida’s Sector-150 has claimed the life of a young software engineer after his car plunged into a water-filled construction pit on a foggy night, with the victim’s family alleging gross negligence by the Noida Authority.
The deceased has been identified as Yuvraj Mehta, son of Rajkumar Mehta, a resident of Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. The incident occurred near the Sector-150 turn in the Knowledge Park area amid dense fog and extremely poor visibility, when Yuvraj’s car reportedly went through a broken boundary wall and plunged into an unbarricaded, waterlogged ditch estimated to be nearly 70 feet deep.
Recounting the harrowing final moments, Rajkumar Mehta said his son called him immediately after the accident, pleading for help. “Just after falling into the pit, Yuvraj called and said, ‘Papa, save me, I have fallen into a drain.’ I rushed out to help him, but there were no vehicles on the road. I finally found a cab and reached the location, but my son was not there,” he said.
According to the father, after reaching the site near their society, he sought police assistance, following which rescue teams were mobilised. “This incident happened due to the negligence of the Noida Authority, which failed to take proper safety measures,” Rajkumar Mehta alleged.
Family members claimed that Yuvraj struggled for nearly two hours to stay alive. He reportedly climbed onto the roof of his partially submerged car and used his mobile phone’s flashlight to signal his location in the thick fog, repeatedly calling for help. However, the absence of adequate rescue equipment and poor visibility delayed efforts to save him.
Police from the Knowledge Park Police Station, along with fire brigade teams, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and later the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), were involved in the rescue operation, which stretched for nearly four-and-a-half hours. During the initial phase, Yuvraj was intermittently seen standing atop the car, switching on his mobile torch and shouting for help.
Rescue efforts were severely hampered by darkness, dense fog and near-zero visibility. Police and fire personnel reportedly refrained from entering the water due to freezing conditions and the risk posed by under-construction columns inside the basement area.
In a desperate attempt to save him, a Flipkart delivery agent, Moninder, tied a rope around his waist and jumped into the ditch. However, the depth of the pit and poor visibility made the rescue unsuccessful. “I searched in the water for 30 to 40 minutes, but I could not find him. By the time I reached, he had already drowned. I was late,” Moninder said, adding that more than 100 people were already present at the site before him.
Yuvraj Mehta worked as a software engineer with Dunnhumby in Gurugram. His mother passed away two years ago, and his sister currently resides in the United Kingdom.
Residents and family members have alleged that the accident site lacked proper barricading, warning signage and adequate lighting, raising serious concerns about infrastructure safety in the area. Authorities are yet to issue a detailed response, even as demands for accountability and stricter safety measures grow following the fatal incident.
