Cries for help go unheard as software engineer drowns in Noida pit

A 27-year-old software engineer died after his SUV broke through a damaged boundary wall and plunged into a flooded construction pit in Sector 150 of Noida around midnight on Friday, officials reported.

The victim, identified as Yuvraj Mehta, was driving home when the accident occurred near the ATS Le Grandiose housing complex. The incident is believed to have been caused by poor visibility due to dense fog, as well as the lack of street lighting or reflective warning boards on the construction site.

Mehta, who did not know how to swim, managed to climb out of his Grand Vitara and onto the roof of the vehicle in an attempt to stay afloat. He repeatedly flashed his mobile phone torch through the fog and called his father, pleading for help as the car slowly sank.

The young engineer who worked with customer data science firm Dunnhumby India in Gurugram lived in the same sector. 

His father, Raj Mehta, and police reached the scene within minutes but were unable to locate him in the thick fog despite hearing his cries.

A passer-by identified as Moninder was the first to attempt a rescue, jumping into the freezing water in search of the victim. He later said he spent around 30 minutes in the pit but could not find Mehta. “Yuvraj kept pleading for help,” he said.

A friend of the victim, Pankaj Tokas, alleged delays in the rescue operation. “He was screaming for help while standing on the car roof. The police who arrived first said they could not swim. Cranes were called, but no one entered the water to save him,” he said.

Police said they alerted the fire department and disaster response teams soon after arriving at the scene. “Initial rescue efforts were made with the help of local divers. Subsequently, teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed,” a senior police officer said.

Sources said the SDRF team reached the site first but lacked the equipment needed to carry out a rescue in the 30-foot-deep pit. The NDRF was later called in from Ghaziabad, causing further delay.

By around 1:45 am, Mehta’s cries for help had fallen silent as his family and friends waited helplessly at the edge of the pit. His body was recovered at approximately 4:30 am, nearly four hours after the accident. Officials believe he lost strength and drowned as the vehicle sank, leaving him with nothing to hold on to.

Rescue officials said dense fog severely hampered visibility. “We could only see a thin beam of light, likely from his phone,” one official said, adding that visibility was less than 10 metres despite the use of torches and flashlights.

Raj Mehta, a retired State Bank of India director, alleged that the site had long been hazardous and that repeated warnings to the Noida Authority had been ignored. “Visibility was extremely poor, but had the boundary wall not been damaged, the car may not have fallen into the pit,” he said.

Local residents said a similar incident had occurred around 10 days earlier when a truck struck the same damaged wall, though the driver was rescued. “No repairs were carried out even after that. The accident could have been prevented,” a resident said.

Yuvraj Mehta lived with his father at Tata Eureka Park in Sector 150. He had lost his mother two years ago and was the sole earning member of the family. His elder sister is married and settled in the United Kingdom.