Be Ready, Student Told Friend Before Delhi Tragedy. He Hasn't Been Found Yet

June 6, Sunday, was a regular weekend for Rishit, who had come to drink tea with his friends at Delhi's Satya Niketan. He was supposed to meet a friend at 2 pm, a student who was staying as a paying guest in the area. At around 1:10 pm, Rishit got a message from his friend that he was coming down in a minute. He has not been seen since.

Rishit's friend is one of the several people feared trapped under the debris of the Delhi building that collapsed on Sunday afternoon, killing seven and injuring others. So far, 12 people have been pulled out of the debris.

Talking to NDTV, Rishit, a resident of Udaipur who studies in Delhi, said that the PG facility that collapsed also housed a tea stall, a restaurant and a library. At around 1:10 pm, he left the building premises after having tea there and went for lunch to his own hostel on the next lane.

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"At around 1:10 pm, we left to have lunch. Suddenly, we heard a loud sound, like that of a cylinder blast. It was like a little earthquake. When we went to check, there was this huge dust cloud. When it settled, we saw that building had collapsed," he said.

He said that one of his friends, who hails from Chhattisgarh, was inside the PG facility when the tragedy struck.

"We had a plan to go out at 2 pm. He just messaged me prior to the incident, saying, 'You get ready, I'm just in the bathroom, bathing. I'll be there in a minute.' In just five minutes, the whole building collapsed," he said.

Rishit told NDTV that his friend had called him from inside. "We tried our best, but he has not yet been found."

Photo Credit: ANI

The decades-old five-storey building in southwest Delhi's Satya Niketan housed a boys' PG. It collapsed during repair work on Sunday.

The student said nobody was aware that the building owners had received a legal warning to renovate the building, or such a serious work was going on in the basement. Pointing out to other such incidents over the years, he asked why students have to lose their lives despite paying high rents.

"The owner should have told the students that construction is happening and that they should go to a relative's or friend's house. The students didn't know," Rishit asserted.

According to him, around 20 students were living on each floor of the five-storey building. He said there were at least 30-40 students inside at the time of the collapse.

"By the time we all came to see, it was too late. Those who were on the top floor were probably found because they were higher up. But those on the second and third floors, in the basement, the labourers - they must have been completely crushed," Rishit said.

Photo Credit: AFP

The bodies, which are being taken out, are completely dismembered, he said.

"I saw two bodies being taken out in front of me. They were not identifiable because one only had legs, the other was just a torso," the student recounted.

The incident has prompted authorities to take action. Building owner Hariram Gupta was arrested from Rajasthan on Monday, while the Municipal Corporation of Delhi suspended five of its employees.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court pulled up authorities while hearing the matter, asserting that the government "cannot escape responsibility." The high court called the incident "deeply tragic."