'Please save or I will die': Desperate calls for help from students trapped under rubble after Satya Niketan building collapse

A chilling 11-second video from the Satya Niketan building collapse captured the terrifying ordeal of a student trapped beneath several layers of rubble. The student, visibly frightened, was seen seeking help as rescue teams worked through the debris. As Sunday night progressed, several people were still feared trapped beneath the remains of the five-storey boys' paying guest (PG) accommodation in south-west Delhi. Officials, however, were unable to establish the exact number of people inside the building when it collapsed.

The structure reportedly came down around 1.30pm on Sunday. Officials suspect that ongoing construction work in either the basement or on the ground floor may have contributed to the structural failure. By midnight, at least five people, including a student and a labourer, had been confirmed dead.

Trapped students made desperate calls for help

The rescue effort was complicated by uncertainty over the number of occupants. Local residents claimed that at least 20 students were inside the building, while several labourers were reportedly sitting outside when the structure collapsed. Some trapped students were identified after managing to contact friends outside. The student seen in the widely shared video was identified by his friends as 19-year-old Aditya Kumar, a student at a Delhi University college on the south campus. Kumar is from Patna, Bihar.

Jatin Chaudhary, 22, a National Students' Union of India (NSUI) member who knew Kumar, said, “There was also a small voice note in which we could only hear a call for help.” Kumar was eventually rescued from the rubble at around 6pm and taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre. Doctors confirmed that he was stable and required a CT scan.

“The doctors are saying that he needs a CT scan but is stable at this point,” his sister, Ankita, was quoted as saying to HT. Another student, Neeraj Bawa, also managed to call his friends for assistance. According to 21-year-old Anmol Yadav, Bawa contacted them while they were heading towards the PG. “We were on our way to the PG when he called and said, ‘please save me or I’ll die’. He shared his live location with us, we would have located him, but the police didn’t allow us to go near the building.

Bawa was among the first people rescued and was taken to AIIMS. Yadav, who accompanied him in the ambulance, said Bawa was conscious but had difficulty speaking and had sustained significant injuries to his lower body. “I accompanied him in the ambulance, he was conscious but was barely able to utter a word. His lower body suffered most of the injuries,” Yadav added.

Also Read: Delhi building collapse: MCD orders 'immediate' sealing of illegal structures over 4 floors, demolition of a property in Satya Niketan

Narrow lanes hamper rescue operation

The narrow lanes surrounding the residential colony posed another major challenge for the rescue teams. Large crowds gathered near the site, making it difficult to move heavy equipment and other materials into and out of the operation zone. An NDRF official involved in the operation said specialised equipment, including life detectors, was being used to locate survivors before rescuers cut through the rubble.

NDRF inspector general Narendra Singh Bundela said, “Our teams are cautious while using machines to remove the rubble as lives are at stake. Since multiple floors of the building have collapsed, we are doing the removal of debris layer by layer. Our first priority is to identify and locate victims, stabilise them by giving them oxygen and other requisite support, and rescue them at the earliest. Our teams are using all available resources for cutting and removing the debris. As of now two teams comprising 70 personnel are working."

The difficult access to the site also delayed the arrival of specialised rescue vehicles. Delhi Fire Services (DFS) station officer Manoj Mehlawat said teams initially relied on equipment carried by fire tenders rather than waiting for larger specialised vehicles. “Rather than waiting for the specialised vehicles, we began cutting, breaking and removing the rubbles using the equipment we keep in our fire tenders.”