Eyewitnesses recall shocking delay in rescue efforts after a 27-year-old techie drowned into a water filled pit in an under-construction building in Noida's Sector 150 late Saturday night.

The victim, identified as Yuvraj Mehta, was a software engineer working with a private firm in Gurugram and was trapped inside his car, which submerged into a ditch, being prepared as a mall's basement.

The car fell into the ditch after it broke through the boundary wall of a roadside drain around midnight, reportedly due to low visibility in fog.

His body was later recovered on Monday morning. Among eyewitnesses was Moninder, who, according to a report by Hindustan Times, works as a delivery agent and had entered the drain to attempt to rescue the victim. He highlighted "negligence on the authorities's behalf".

According to Moninder he reached the spot at around 1:45 am when Mehta was already trapped inside his car in the ditch.

"For around one hour and forty-five minutes, he kept pleading for help, saying, 'please save me, save me in any way possible'," Moninder told reporters.

Highlighting negligence, Moninder added that the emergency responders were on site but refused to enter the water due to cold weather and hazardous water condition. "The police were present at the spot, along with the SDRF (UP's State Disaster Response Force). Fire brigade personnel were also there. But no one helped him. They were saying, ‘The water is too cold. We won’t go inside. There are iron rods inside. We won’t go'," Moninder was quoted as saying.

Moninder said that he asked the rescuers to come out and then he himself dived into the water but failed to find the car or Mehta even after 30-minute search.

"The boy had drowned about 10 minutes before I reached. I told them (rescuers) to come out and said I would go inside. They came out. I took off my clothes, tied a rope around my waist, and went at least 50 metres inside the water", he added.