A four-and-a-half-year-old girl fell into an open manhole in Noida’s Sector 74 on Tuesday morning, the police said. She was rescued by locals, they added.
The victim has been identified as Srisha Mehra, a resident CV5 tower of Supertech Capetown society. She was waiting for the school bus when the incident happened, the police said.
“We were waiting for the school bus to arrive around 7.30 a.m. and Srisha was playing with her friends. There was an open manhole just a few steps away. While playing, my daughter fell right into the open manhole,” said Sukriti Mehra, the victim’s mother.
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Srisha was fortunately holding her mother’s hand, so her head was out while her body was inside the manhole. Locals rushed forward to rescue her.
“If my wife had not been holding her hand, we could have lost her today [on Tuesday]. The builder also uses this stretch for illegal parking for outsiders,” claimed Ashish Mehra, the girl’s father. He claimed none of the security guards came forward to help his daughter.
Srisha was taken to a nearby hospital. “The manhole is about 18 feet deep. There are around 12 manholes on the same stretch. Noida Authority should cover these all manholes, and the developer should also come forward to do something about the situation,” said Mr. Mehra.
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A team of Noida Authority officials was sent for inspection and orders have been given to cover all the open manholes in the sector.
FIR registered
An FIR has been registered against the Noida Authority, the builder and the security agency at Sector-49 police station under Section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC. “We are investigating the case,” said a senior police officer.