Ajay, a 30-year-old labourer, had plans to move out of his cramped home, having enrolled his two sons in school days ago. That dream collapsed on Friday when a tree came crashing down on his house.
His wife Jyoti (28) and their three sons -- seven-year-old Aryan, five-year-old Rishabh and seven-month-old Priyansh -- died when their house at Kharkhari Nahar village in Najafgarh collapsed under the weight of a neem tree during Friday morning's heavy rain in the national capital.
Ajay suffered minor injuries and has been discharged from hospital.
A labourer working in the fields for the past five to seven years, Ajay had been living alone in the 80 square metre house.
He had recently gone to his native village near Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district and returned with his wife and children.
"He is very hardworking and used to send money home to his wife and children, who lived in a village near Kanpur," his friend Kali Charan said.
"He wanted to live in a nice home with his wife and children. They were temporarily living in the one bedroom house and had planned to move to a bigger one soon. He had also enrolled his sons in a school, hoping that they would do something big and make him proud," he added.
Those living in the vicinity recalled the tragedy with tears in their eyes.
Kishan Singh said, "We suddenly heard people shouting and running towards the small house around 6 am. Sensing something serious had happened, we rushed to the spot. When we got closer, we could hear a man's desperate cries for help. Several villagers gathered and someone informed the police and the fire brigade." "When they were finally pulled out of the rubble, it was an unbearable sight. It will haunt us for a long time," he said.
Several women were seen crying inconsolably.
"The rain brought devastation to Ajay's family. He was a poor labourer working hard in the fields to make ends meet. His wife was kind and helpful. No one could have imagined such a cruel fate for them. We request the government to step in and support Ajay. He has lost everything," said another villager.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said a PCR call was received at 5:26 am about the house collapse. When the police reached the spot, they found that gusty winds accompanying the rain had uprooted a neem tree, which collapsed onto a small house. A family of five was trapped under the debris.
"Police and fire department teams pulled the family out of the rubble and shifted them to a nearby hospital where four were declared dead," the official said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
