Three women and a 10-year-old girl died after a mound of mud fell on them Tuesday morning in Mohanpura area in Kasganj district, police said.

The incident occurred around 7 am when they were collecting mud from a ditch dug for the construction of a bridge between Rampur and Kataur village.

Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Bharti confirmed the deaths.

“Nine people had gone to dig mud for some function in their house and got down a 10-foot-deep ditch whose wall crashed on them. The ditch was dug for the construction of a bridge in the area,” he said.

“Five people are undergoing treatment,” he added.

The deceased were identified as Ram Beti, 29, Prema Devi, 36, Saraswati, 27, and Pinky, 10, all of them natives of Rampur village, Naresh, the police outpost in-charge of Mohanpura, said. 

Maheswari, 40, Krishna, 45, Hemlata, 40, Prem Singh, 32, and Arjun, 8, are undergoing treatment, he said. 

Kasganj Chief Medical Officer Dr Rajiv Agrawal told reporters, “Nine people were brought to District Hospital in Kasganj, of whom, four died. Two women were referred to Aligarh, while the rest are being given treatment here.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths and ordered proper treatment of the wounded.

“The Chief Minister has instructed the district administration officials to reach the spot and expedite the relief work and immediately take the injured to the hospital for proper treatment. He also wished for the speedy recovery of the injured,” his office said in a post on X.