Delhi tragedy: Uprooted tree kills 4 of family
NEW DELHI, May 3 -- A ferocious thunderstorm that swept through Delhi early Friday morning left at least five people dead, with one family left entirely shattered - a woman and her three children, the youngest of whom was seven months old, were crushed when their single-room dwelling collapsed under the weight of fallen trees in Jafarpur Kalan, west Delhi.
In another tragedy, a 25-year-old construction worker was electrocuted in Green Park after he, in an attempt to take cover from the storm, accidentally touched an iron gate charged by a broken overhead wire.
Jyoti Devi, 28, and her children Aryan, 7, Rishabh, 5, and seven-month-old Priyansh were found dead under the debris of their collapsed home, said DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh.
Her husband, Ajay Kumar, sustained injuries but survived. The couple had moved into the makeshift brick-and-sand structure on a farm just weeks earlier, after returning from their village in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya.
Police said their control room received a call at 5.26am regarding a collapse, and when rescuers reached the spot, they found that a tree had fallen over a room. Under the debris, police said, Devi and three kids were recovered unresponsive, but Kumar had survived and was briefly taken to a hospital.
By 3pm, Kumar had been discharged and he was at a mortuary for legal proceedings and postmortem of his wife and kids. He barely spoke - his hands and back still carrying the bruises from the incident.
"The room wasn't meant for living- it was only made using sand, it had no cement. It stood on the roots of an old Neem tree," said Sunil Kumar, Ajay's cousin. "It couldn't have survived a storm like this." The family had returned on April 8 to get Aryan and Rishabh admitted to school. The admissions had gone through just two days ago.
Ajay, who had come to Delhi about 20 years ago, was working on the farm for years. On Friday afternoon, he left for his native village with the bodies of his wife and children.
Chief minister Rekha Gupta expressed grief and announced an ex gratia of Rs.25 lakh to Ajay.
"The news of the tragic death of four members of a family...in Kharkhadi Nahar village, Najafgarh is extremely distressing. The Delhi government stands with the victim's family in this difficult time," she said.
Meanwhile, in Green Park, Ankit Singh, a construction worker from Mainpuri, UP, was electrocuted at 4.30am as he attempted to take shelter from the storm. According to police, a low-tension overhead wire broke and electrified an iron gate at the under-construction site. As Singh tried to escape the storm, he grabbed the gate and was fatally shocked.
A case was registered for negligent conduct. DCP (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said, "The main gate of an under-construction plot became electrically charged due to a broken overhead wire from the colony's main power supply."
In a third incident in Chhawla, Dwarka, a wall collapsed, injuring Om Prakash, 41, his son Love, 13, and nephew Sonu, 15. All three were treated, officials said.
In a fourth incident in New Kondli, 17-year-old Khushbu Lal was injured when a cemented shed collapsed on her....
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