Delhi building collapse: A 10-second video, a scramble to save stranger — ‘He’s alive, get him out’

Darkness all around, a shaking camera, debris pressing down. On Sunday evening, at least seven people showed up at the site of the building collapse at Satya Niketan in South Delhi, drawn by a 10-second clip shot by a student trapped inside.

All of them wanted to pull him out. Among the first to reach the spot was Adi Nain, an NSUI leader from a university in Sonipat. “I got this video at 4.50 pm on my phone from a former DUSU (Delhi University Students Union) office-bearer who asked me to rush to the spot.

We didn’t know his name because my friend had first sent this video to another friend, who then forwarded it to another,” he told rescuers at the site. According to Nain, the person who shot the video is a second-year B.Com student in Delhi University’s South Campus, a few kilometres from his PG.

Delhi Fire Service sources confirmed late Sunday night that the boy seen in the video was rescued and identified as Aditya, a student from Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College. “He has been admitted to the hospital and is under observation.

He is not in a critical condition,” sources said. The video had been sent to Nain by Abhi Dhaiya, a former DUSU vice-president. Dhaiya said his brother, Dishant, had sent him the video, saying that a friend had received a message from the trapped student asking for help.

“Vo phasa hua hai abhi, zinda hai, please usko bahar nikaal lo (He is stuck inside, he’s alive, please get him out),” the message read. “But I couldn't figure out the exact location where he was stuck, so I forwarded it to the people on the ground,” Dhaiya said.

Dishant told The Indian Express that he had received the video from the owner of an adjoining PG, who was asking for the student to be rescued. “By then, the video was widely circulated, and everyone was trying to identify him,” he said.

Within minutes of the collapse, WhatsApp groups of colleges and student unions were flooded with messages about those missing. Many students from nearby PGs began forming groups to search for people they knew — at the site, among the items pulled out from the debris was a red suitcase, a water bucket and chairs.

Piyush Sharma (18), a psychology student at Motilal Nehru College, said he was sleeping at his PG about 50 metres from the site when the building collapsed. “I had shifted recently from Jaipur. I used to walk past this building every day… At first, I did not believe it.

There are many students in my class who are trapped inside the building,” he said. Sharma then opened his class group on his phone. A message read: “There is a boy…who was on a call with his friend around 1.30 pm. His voice suddenly stopped and we have not been able to confirm whether he is safe.

He stays in one of the PGs in Satya Square. If anyone knows which PG he stays in or has any information about his whereabouts and safety, please let us know.”