MP: 9 children dead in house wall collapse
Bhopal: At least 9 children died and several were injured after an old house wall collapsed during a religious event in Madhya Pradesh's Shahpur town of Sagar district on Sunday.
The incident occurred around 8:30 am while local people, including many children, were participating in the "Parthiv Shivling Nirman" (making Shivling out of clay) and Katha programme that had been going on for the last two days in a tent near the abandoned house. Following heavy rain, the wall of the house collapsed and fell on the tent, and 9 children lost their lives.
The tragic accident occurred just a day after six children died in the state in two separate incidents of wall collapses in Rewa and Narsinghpur districts.
The children were crushed under the tent and debris. The deceased children were aged between 10-15 years, and some of them were the only descendants of their parents.
According to officials, the deceased were identified as Dhruv Yadav (12), Nitesh Patel (13), Ashutosh Prajapati (15), Prince Sahu (12), Parv Vishwakarma (10), Divyansh Sahu (12), Dev Sahu (12), Vansh Lodhi (10) and Hemant (10).
The Katha programme was going on at a temple, and on its sidelines, children were taking part in the programme of making Shivlings out of clay in a nearby tent when the wall fell on them.
MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav suspended the chief municipal officer and sub-engineer of the Shahpur local body and directed all local bodies across the state to identify dilapidated buildings and take action so that such incidents do not occur.
"I am saddened to hear the news of nine innocent children dying after the collapse of the wall due to heavy rains. I have directed the Sagar district administration to provide treatment to the injured", CM Yadav posted on X.
"Financial assistance of Rs 4 Lakh to the families of each deceased child will be given by the government", the CM announced.
Expressing grief, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, said: "The incident caused by the wall collapse in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh is heart-breaking. My condolences to the bereaved families of the children who lost their lives in this incident.
May God give them strength to bear this pain. I wish speedy recovery of all the injured.”
The PMO, in a message on X, informed that the prime minister had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased, while the injured would be given Rs 50,000.
Local BJP MLA and former minister Gopal Bhargav and the Collector of the district along with senior officials rushed to the spot after being informed about the incident to take stock of the relief and rescue works.
Collector of the district Deepak Arya said that the children were sitting under the tent near a temple when the house wall collapsed due to rain.
“Two children died on the spot and seven others succumbed on the way to the hospital or upon reaching the medical facilities,” the collector said. He also said that the injured children are getting treatment in the hospital and are out of danger. According to the Sanodha police station in charge, the house belonged to Ghanshyam Patel and due to its damaged condition, nobody lived in it.
