If help had arrived ten minutes earlier, the 27-year-old software engineer trapped inside his sinking car in Greater Noida might have survived, witnesses have said.
Instead, Yuvraj Mehta spent nearly 90 minutes waiting for rescue after his vehicle plunged into a water-filled pit late Friday night, flashing his phone’s torch.
Eyewitnesses, including his father and a delivery agent who tried to rescue him, said the delay proved fatal.
The accident, barely 40 km from Delhi, has raised questions about emergency preparedness and safety measures in the national capital region.
Raj Kumar Mehta, Yuvraj’s father, said his son called him in panic after the car fell into a drain more than 20 feet deep. “I spoke to him shortly before the accident. He told me he was on his way home,” he said.
“A little later, he called again in panic and said his car had met with an accident and fallen into a drain. He asked me to come immediately.”
By the time the father reached the site in Sector 150, thick fog had reduced visibility to almost nothing. “Visibility was very low and somehow when I called him, he opened the torchlight of his phone inside the car because of which we could see a faint little light from the water body,” he told reporters.
He recalled telling his son, “don’t panic, we are trying to help you,” even as he realised there was no expert diver at the spot.
A delivery agent, Moninder, who said he reached the site around 1.45 am on Saturday, claimed precious time was lost.
Moninder, also alleged that rescue personnel were initially reluctant to enter the water because of the cold, poor visibility and the presence of iron rods at the construction site.
“I tied a rope around my waist and went into the water myself. I searched for the youth and his car for around 30 minutes,” he said. Moninder added that he was later told that “if help had reached 10 minutes earlier, the techie could have been saved”.
According to Moninder, Mehta was initially seen standing on the roof of his car, using his mobile phone’s torch to signal passers-by and pleading for help. He also said the same ditch had earlier witnessed another accident, in which a truck driver was rescued by locals using ropes and a ladder.
Police have rejected allegations of negligence.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Rajeev Narayan Mishra said police and fire department teams deployed a crane, ladder, makeshift boat and searchlights, but visibility was near zero due to fog.
Mehta’s father questioned why trained divers were not brought in sooner and why the site lacked barricades or reflectors despite a previous accident.
Yuvraj, he said, worked with a Gurugram-based company on a hybrid schedule and was returning home late after an office visit when the car skidded in heavy fog.
An FIR has been lodged on the family’s complaint, police said, and the matter is under investigation.