‘There was a blast and the ground shook’
Recalling his six minutes of horror, Deepak Kumar, 18, one of the survivors of the Friday’s collapse at Ghazipur landfill, says that there was a loud blast and he felt the earth shaking. Before he could react, he and his friends, who were riding separate bikes, had been thrown into the canal. None of them could swim.
“It felt like an earthquake. There was a loud explosion and then we felt the land shaking. Next second, we were thrown into the canal by an overwhelming force. I thought I was going to die,” Deepak told Hindustan Times, while waiting outside a mortuary at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Mayur Vihar Phase-2.
Deepak, and his friend, Amit, were rescued by locals. But their third friend, Abhishek Gautam, 20, couldn’t be saved. He drowned as the bike had landed on him, said eyewitnesses.
“I was desperately moving my arms and legs, to keep afloat. I could also see Amit nearby, choking on water but trying to keep afloat. Abhishek was nowhere around, and nor was his bike,” said Deepak.
Abhishek had gone there to buy chicken. The three friends lived in Rajbir Colony, Kondli. Abhishek was a second-year DU correspondence student of BA. He was also doing a part-time job with a satellite TV company, said his family.
The second victim, Rajkumari, 28, was going to get married in December. Her wedding preparations were in full swing. She was an accountant at a medical storeroom. However, she left the job after getting engaged few months ago, said her family.
Rajkumari lived in Khoda Colony, UP. At the time of the incident, she was returning with a 15-year-old cousin, and a tenant from a bank to her home on her scooty.
“The tenant and the 15-yearold boy were rescued but my cousin sister couldn’t survive,” said Surender, another cousin.
A police officer said a case under 304-A was being registered. “The people responsible for this will be probed,” said the officer.