New Delhi: “I’ve never seen anything like it. We heard someone groaning from under the debris, faint but clear. And when we started pulling the bricks away, we saw the bodies,” said Gautam Sehgal, one of the first residents to reach the site after a boundary wall collapsed in Sehgal Colony, crushing two labourers to death and injuring two others.According to several locals TOI spoke to, the tragedy was more than just a collapse — it was the fallout of years of tree felling, reckless digging, and erasure of heritage.Gautam, grandson of freedom fighter Rustamji Sehgal after whom the colony is named, was alerted by the domestic staff. “When I reached, the wall had folded into itself. People were shouting. The guards were already trying to break through the rubble. Police arrived very quickly and helped, but those first few minutes… they were horrifying,” he recalled. Manju Khanna (78) had just walked into her puja room when she felt the earth tremble. “It was sudden, like thunder without sound. The floor felt uneven, and water started seeping in. I kept thinking — what if no one hears me?” she said, visibly shaken. “If I had stepped in or out a minute earlier… I don’t even want to imagine.”Residents, guards, domestic workers and relatives ran towards the debris before authorities cordoned off the area. “We didn’t know where to start. But then someone heard a sound, a low cry and we just started digging,” said a resident who was among the first to help. “The woman’s body was half-buried. We couldn’t move fast enough. Then we found the boy. He was already gone.”Police teams arrived within minutes. “They coordinated quickly, one side was cleared for access, and they helped pull out the injured,” said Gautam. “But by then, the damage had already been done.”For many, it wasn’t just the physical damage, it was the shock of seeing a place tied so deeply to personal and collective memory torn apart. “This place is more than home,” said Deepak Khanna, a long-time resident. “We’ve seen generations grow up here. I remember playing under the trees they cut down. That green patch behind the wall — now a construction zone — was our forest.”Residents alleged the wall gave way due to years of neglect, aggravated by drilling, JCB activity and unregulated tree felling. “They cut down trees that held this soil together. You remove the roots, the land shifts,” said Gautam. “Two people are dead. And for what? A new building?”Residents called for an immediate audit of all structures in the area and a halt to ongoing construction. They also pointed to a dangerously tilting blue tin shed and heaps of rubble still lying around. They urged authorities to clear the debris, inspect the construction work and investigate the alleged tree felling that may have destabilised the area.