A relative of a youth who was travelling by a car that rammed into a stationary dumper at Marine Drive in Mumbai on Tuesday. Four students, returning home by the car after New Year celebrations, and a civic worker were killed in the early morning accident. (PTI)

Chennai, Jan. 1: A 24-year-old software engineer died after a makeshift dance floor gave way, plunging guests into the swimming pool below at a New Year’s Eve bash in a hotel near Marina beach.

Sumit Agnihotri, a Lucknow boy who lived with friends in a rented accommodation near his office at the Ambattur Industrial Estate here, was brought out of the pool bleeding and unconscious. He was declared dead this morning at Government General Hospital.

Agnihotri had been working as a network engineer for Slash Support India, a software firm, for the past six months. His parents are arriving in Chennai tonight.

Third-year engineering student Anandan and his cousin Ramya, who is studying computer science, were injured and are undergoing treatment in a hospital.

“There was a big crowd, maybe more than 200 people, on the dance floor. As the music reached a crescendo amid flashes of laser lighting, there was a sudden thud and the planks gave way,” said Vijayaraghavan, a bank executive who was there with his wife.

“Luckily, my wife and I were not on the stage as we came only around 11.30pm though the party started around 9pm.”

Police have filed a case against the three-star Hotel Savera, which had charged couples Rs 3,500 each and individuals Rs 2,999 each for the bash. The case has been filed under Section 304(A) of the Indian Penal Code for “causing death by negligence”.

Agnihotri’s roommates had not come for the party. A colleague who was there with his family identified the youth and accompanied him to the hospital.

Police sources said he was the first to fall into the pool, and others fell on top of him, delaying his rescue. Agnihotri died by drowning, the police added.

Only a part of the pool had been covered to set up the dance floor. Sources said around 60 guests must have fallen into the pool, which had about 4 feet of water.

“It is the contractor’s mistake in not having provided sufficient number of supports,” a spokesperson for the hotel said.

Witnesses said there was a sudden surge on the stage just before midnight as a popular local television actress was sighted, and overcrowding caused the floor to collapse.

The hotel denied this. “Everything was orderly, everyone was in a happy mood, singing and dancing to the voice of our regular DJ Chabby, until the planks gave way, plunging several people into waist-deep water in the swimming pool,” the spokesperson said. “Luckily, we had a number of bouncers around who quickly jumped into the swimming pool and rescued several people.”

As fire service and police personnel arrived for rescue operations, some of those partying at the hotel resisted attempts to get them to leave. Some were seen scuffling with the police in an enclosure near the pool and demanding that the bash continue.

The hotel management tried to calm tempers by announcing that it would refund the money for the cancelled bash.

By the time the place was finally emptied, it was nearly an hour past midnight.