Three students died on Saturday after they were trapped in the flooded basement of a coaching centre in Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar. Several hours after the area was flooded, the bodies of the three victims were found by the rescue teams of NDRF and local police.

According to the police, all three victims were Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants who were studying at the Rau’s IAS coaching institute.

The three victims have been identified as Shreya Yadav from Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Nivin Dalwin from Ernakulam, Kerala.

Presently, the bodies of the victims have been sent to the RML mortuary, the Delhi police said.

Details about the incident

According to the police, the Delhi fire department received a call regarding waterlogging at the Rao IAS Study Centre and the Karol Bagh area around 7 pm on Saturday, with reports of two or three students being trapped in a flooded basement. Upon arrival, they found the basement full of water. The efforts to pump out the water were initially hampered as rainwater continued to flow into the basement, however, once the road water receded, they managed to reduce the water level from 12 feet to eight feet and retrieved the bodies of the students.

There were around 30 students in the coaching centre, of whom 12 to 14 were rescued and taken to a hospital, while others managed to escape.

The rescue operation has been completed, said the police, adding that an inquiry will be conducted to determine how the water entered the basement and why a class was being held there.

Meanwhile, the police detained the owner and coordinator of the coaching centre and registered a criminal case over the deaths of the students.

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has also directed the MCD Commissioner that strict action should be taken against such coaching centres across Delhi which are under the jurisdiction of MCD and running commercial activities in basements which are in violation of building bye-laws and are not as per norms. She added that an immediate enquiry will be conducted to identify if any officers of MCD are responsible for this tragedy. If any official is found guilty, the strongest possible action must be taken against them, she said.