LUCKNOW: A 23-year-old student died after drowning in a water-filled pit in Noida on Wednesday night.
Harshit Bhatt, a student at Amity University, had gone out with three friends. Police sources claimed that the four students, after finishing their semester exams, consumed alcohol before going to an empty plot.
During the outing, he had entered the deeper end of the pit and drowned. His friends tried to rescue him but failed.
They entered the pit to bathe. During questioning, Harshit’s friends said they had bathed in the same pit earlier as well, but this time Harshit moved into deeper waters and drowned.
Police, along with SDRF and NDRF teams, reached the spot within about 20 minutes of receiving information. The youth was pulled out and rushed to the hospital, but doctors declared him dead on arrival.
According to Noida DCP Saad Mian Khan, Harshit was pursuing a course in Bachelor of Physical Education (BPEd) and was in his sixth semester. His father serves in the Indian Army and is currently posted in Ladakh. He is survived by a brother and a sister.
It may be recalled that 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta had died after his car fell into a nearly 30-foot-deep, water-filled pit while returning from office in Gurugram on January 16, this year.
Around midnight, Yuvraj was driving towards Tata Eureka Park when, due to dense fog, he could not see the road clearly. His car broke through a drain wall near Sector 150 and plunged into a pit dug for a mall basement. He managed to climb onto the roof of the sinking car and called his father, pleading for help.
Despite rescue efforts by police, fire services and SDRF teams, his body was recovered after nearly two-and-a-half hours.
Following the January incident, action was taken against officials concerned. The Uttar Pradesh government removed the Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M, a 2005-batch senior IAS officer, and ordered an SIT probe into the death of the software engineer amid mounting outrage over the incident and allegations of official and developer negligence.
Authorities were directed to get the water drained from open pits, barricading be installed and drains be covered within 15 days.
However, the latest incident has again raised concerns over safety compliance at such sites.