Deceased was the family's sole breadwinner

Abhishek, one of the deceased in the landfill collapse, was the sole breadwinner for his family, who were saving up for their daughter's wedding. But with his demise their hopes have been now been crushed.

"His (Abhishek's) father is a vegetable vendor. He has an elder sister and was the only hope for his parents," said 23-year-old Deepak, Abhishek's cousin

Speaking to DNA, Deepak who was with Abhishek at the time of the incident, said that the two of them were on a bike driving from Abhishek's residence in Rajvir Nagar to Ghazipur when the incident occurred. He added that Amit, another cousin of theirs, was on a bike following them. "Abhishek was riding and I was sitting at the back when we were flushed away into the canal. People managed to pull Amit and me out but we couldn't find Abhishek. After two hours, he was found dead," said an inconsolable Deepak. So far, the disaster has also claimed life of a 30-year-old woman. Rescue operations continued on Friday as authorities fear that more lives may be lost.

Eyewitnesses are still unable to process just what they had seen. Vaibhav Sharma, who witnessed the entire incident said, "All of a sudden an explosion occurred when the garbage landfill site collapsed and the people were swept from the service lane into the canal. The water from the canal was so forceful that it just flushed away the vehicles and people on the service lane," Sharma said.

Mohammad Aqil, the president of the livestock market association said that six months ago he had written to the EDMC Commissioner, the CM and the L-G telling them that the height of the garbage dump was dangerous and it was prone to collapse.