Engineer drowns after 90-minute wait as rescue efforts fail in Greater Noida
Greater Noida: A 27-year-old software engineer lost his life in Greater Noida after his car plunged into a deep, waterlogged pit in dense fog, with rescue teams unable to reach him in time despite his repeated pleas for help.
The victim is identified as Yuvraj Mehta, who worked in Gurugram. Mehta was driving back to his residence at Tata Eureka Park in Noida’s Sector 150 over the weekend when the accident occurred. According to police, Mehta misjudged a turn amid poor visibility. The vehicle jumped a drain before crashing into an approximately 50-foot-deep pit filled with rainwater. Investigators noted that the excavation site had no barricades, reflective markers or warning signage.
After the car fell into the pit, Mehta managed to climb onto its roof and remained there for nearly 90 minutes as water levels rose. During that time, he called his father, Raj Kumar Mehta, seeking urgent help. “My son himself called me while he was trapped. He said, ‘Papa, I am stuck, the car has fallen into the drain,’” his father had said earlier, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Teams from the police, fire department, State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force eventually reached the spot, but their movement was slowed by heavy winter fog and darkness. Police said ropes thrown into the pit failed to reach Mehta, while ladders and a crane deployed by firefighters were also unable to bridge the distance. Before he could be pulled out, the car sank completely. His body was later recovered using a boat.
Following public outrage over the incident, police registered a case of culpable homicide against two real estate firms linked to the plot, MZ Wiztown Planners Ltd and Lotus Greens Construction Pvt Ltd. Both companies denied responsibility. Lotus Greens said the land had been transferred to another party with the Noida Authority’s approval in 2019-20, while MZ Wiztown Planners’ promoter Abhay Kumar claimed the excavation already existed when the land was handed over and that the firm had not been granted permission to begin work.
The Noida Authority has also issued show-cause notices to officials responsible for traffic-related work in the Sector 150 area, and a junior engineer has been dismissed. Assistant Commissioner of Police Hemant Upadhyay told HT that the initial findings suggest that dense fog may have caused Mehta to misjudge the turn, adding that overspeeding was also being examined as a possible factor. Officials acknowledged that although streetlights were present, near-zero visibility due to fog severely limited sightlines at the time of the accident.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
