Could hear my friend calling for help: Survivor recalls Satya Niketan PG collapse

A Delhi University student recalls the terrifying moments after the Satya Niketan building collapsed, leaving him and his friend trapped under the rubble for around 1.5 hours as they waited for help, with his friend repeatedly calling their seniors in the hope of being rescued.Recalling the moments before the structure came crashing down, Nitish said he first heard the sound of water leaking. (Photo: PTI)Darkness, rubble and the sound of his friend’s voice - that was all second-year Delhi University (DU) student Nitish Chib had around him after the five-storey building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan collapsed on Sunday killing seven.Nitish, who was trapped for more than one-and-a-half hours, could not see his friend but could hear him making frantic calls to their seniors for help as they lay buried under the debris.“We felt we won’t survive. Our seniors arrived and we were rescued with the help of NDRF teams,” Nitish told India Today.Nitish, a student of Motilal Nehru College (Evening), had been living in the Satya Niketan building for around a year. He was with his friend when the building collapsed at around 1.15 pm on Sunday, killing seven people. Police received information about the collapse around 1.34 pm. Recalling the moments before the structure came crashing down, Nitish said he first heard the sound of water leaking. “There was some sound of water leakage and then after some time the building collapsed,” he said.For hours, the two students remained buried under the debris, unable to see what was around them. As they waited to be rescued, Nitish and his friend searched for any sign of life, while his friend repeatedly called their seniors and shared their location in the hope that someone would reach them. Nitish was eventually pulled out with injuries to his head, shoulder and legs. He was taken to AIIMS and discharged a few days later. He has since returned to Jammu.‘LANDLORD DIDN’T WARN US OF WORK IN BASEMENT’As Nitish recovers from the incident, he has also raised questions about the work being carried out in the building before the collapse.“There was some digging work going on in the basement. But the landlord didn't warn us. There has been a lapse on the part of the government,” he said.The basement had been undergoing repairs for eight to 10 days after waste and water accumulated there following several days of rain. Three truckloads of debris were dumped into the basement to level it with the ground floor.Talking to India Today, Nitish also highlighted the larger accommodation crisis faced by students in Delhi, saying, “We were paying Rs 15,000 for one bed. There are no hostels in colleges,” while calling for regular audits of paying guest accommodations and the construction of more hostels in Delhi University colleges.For his family, however, the ordeal began the moment they learnt that he was trapped. Nitish’s mother said she immediately left for Delhi after receiving news of the collapse.“The moment I received the news, I immediately left for Delhi. When I reached Delhi, I was relieved to know that my son was rescued,” she said.She said the Delhi Chief Minister met the family and assured them of all possible help, while expressing regret over the incident and assuring them that such a tragedy would not happen again.Meanwhile, police have arrested building owner Hariram Gupta’s son Mahesh, labour contractor Sanoj Kumar and paying guest accommodation operator Lovneesh in connection with the collapse. Hariram Gupta, 81, and his wife Urmila, 75, are also in judicial custody.Tyagi and Lovneesh had been operating the PG under the name “Hostel Daze” after taking four floors of the building on lease in August 2025 for Rs 1.05 lakh per month.Police said Tyagi is absconding and teams have been sent to Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and several other places to trace and arrest him.- EndsPublished By: Shipra ParasharPublished On: Sep 10, 2026 22:51 IST