New Delhi: A 27-year-old software engineer, identified as Yuvraj Mehta, died after he lost control of his car, which then plunged into a deep, water-filled pit at a construction site in Greater Noida.
Police said the incident occurred on the intervening night of Friday-Saturday in Sector-150, when Mehta was returning home from work in his car around midnight.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Hemant Upadhyay told PTI that according to preliminary probe, poor visibility due to dense fog and overspeeding may have led to the accident, following which the car crossed a drain and fell into the pit.
The information about the accident, police said, was received at around 12.15 am at Knowledge Park police station. The body was recovered at around 4 am Saturday with the help of teams from fire department, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the local police. The body has been sent for post-mortem.
According to reports, after the car submerged, Mehta tried repeatedly calling out for help, and tried calling his father on the phone. “Dad, I’ve fallen into a deep pit filled with water. I’m drowning. Please come and save me. I don’t want to die,” he is said to have told his father, NDTV reported.
Mehta’s family has reportedly filed a complaint, alleging negligence on the part of the authorities for failing to install proper barricades, reflectors, warning signs, or lighting near the dangerous stretch of road.
Local residents also staged a protest against the Noida Authority, with some claiming that similar incidents have occurred in the past due to negligence, and that authorities had been informed before about the need for barricading and reflectors near the drain.
(With inputs from PTI)
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)