A 23-year-old Amity University student drowned in a waterlogged construction pit in Noida's Sector 94 on Wednesday afternoon while celebrating an exam with three friends. The three friends were rescued safely. Rescue efforts took over an hour amid deep water and vegetation.
Harshit Bhatt, a final-year student at Amity School of Physical Education, drowned around 3:15 pm near Supertech’s Supernova project off the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. He and three friends had parked their motorcycles and entered the partially fenced site after an exam, police said.
The pit belongs to the Noida Convention and Habitat Centre project on 20 acres in Noida Industrial Development Authority Zone. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath laid its foundation stone on March 2, 2020, at an estimated cost of Rs 685 crore. A senior Noida Authority official told The Indian Express that it was awarded to Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam, but work stopped in 2021 and the firm was blacklisted.
The family said Harshit knew how to swim but they could not understand why he entered the deep water. A relative told The Indian Express: “His friends said that Harshit had said he wanted to go for a swim.” Police found several beer bottles at the site and are investigating.
Ambulance driver Saroj Kashyap, ragpicker Chaman Singh and e-rickshaw driver Harsh helped in the rescue. NDRF, SDRF and fire teams recovered the body after about 90 minutes, as the pit was deep with grass and algae. Noida DCP Saad Miya Khan said: “We are trying to ascertain what exactly happened.” Amity University expressed condolences and said it was cooperating with police. The incident follows a similar drowning of software engineer Yuvraj Mehta in Sector 150 less than three months ago.
