- A techie died after falling into a water-filled ditch in Noida's Sector 150 on Friday night
- Yuvraj struggled for two hours on his car roof before rescue teams retrieved his body, his father said
- The accident site lacked barricades, warning signs, and adequate lighting at night
Rajkumar Mehta, the father of a techie who drowned in a 70-foot-deep water-filled ditch in Noida's Sector 150 last week, said his son "struggled for two hours" trying to save himself.
Yuvraj Mehta lost control of his car and crashed into a waterlogged construction pit located near a road turn amid dense fog and low visibility on Friday night. According to his father, he received a call from Mehta informing him about the accident. While he and the rescue teams reached the spot within a few minutes, the authorities did not have proper resources to pull his son out, Rajkumar recalled.
"My son was crying out for help, asking people to help him, but most of the crowd was just watching. Some people were making videos. My son struggled for two hours to save his life. The officials and staff present were unable to save him. They did not have any divers. There is negligence on the part of the administration in this entire matter," Rajkumar alleged, demanding strict action and improved safety arrangements to prevent such incidents in the future.
Yuvraj, who belonged to Sitamarhi in Bihar, worked as a software engineer with Dunnhumby in Gurugram. His mother had passed away two years earlier, and his sister lives in the UK.
The tragic accident took place as the site reportedly lacked proper barricading, warning signs, and lighting.
After the accident, Yuvraj remained trapped on the roof of the car for nearly two hours - from midnight to 2 am - trying to balance himself so the vehicle would not sink. He even used his phone's flashlight to show where he was stuck in the dense fog, and kept calling for help. When no one entered the ditch, a Flipkart delivery agent, Moninder, tied a rope around his waist and jumped in an effort to try save Yuvraj.
The techie, however, had died.
His body and the car were pulled out of the ditch after nearly five hours of rescue efforts.
Yuvraj's family filed a complaint, alleging that the authorities had neither installed reflectors nor covered drains along the service road. A day later, the Noida Authority terminated the services of a junior engineer and issued show-cause notices to other officials responsible for traffic-related works in the area.
Satish Pal, Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Noida Authority, said, "The investigation will reveal whose land it was, to whom it was allotted, and who was responsible for its maintenance. That road is in an area that is not yet a fully developed sector," he said, assuring action after the inquiry.
