Seven persons were killed after a wall of a medieval-era fort adjacent to a house collapsed on Thursday due to heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh's Datia town.
The incident took place around 4 am in Khalkapura area, said an official. As the wall collapsed, nine persons in the adjacent house were trapped under the debris. While two were rescued, seven died, said Datia district collector Sandeep Makin.
The fort, called `Rajgarh', is believed to be 400 years old, and once housed a museum which was later shifted elsewhere, said a local resident.The State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) team took part in the rescue operation that lasted more than six hours, the collector said.
The two injured persons are undergoing treatment at a local hospital, he added.
Expressing grief over the incident in a post on X, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each for the kin of the victims.The SDERF team reached the spot quickly, but precious lives could not be saved despite strenuous efforts because of the narrow lane where the house is situated, the CM said.
As per collector Makin, five of the deceased belong to one family, while the other two belong to another family.The deceased were identified as Niranjan Vanshkar (55), Mamta Vanshkar (45), Shivam (20), Suraj (17), Radha (23), Kishan Vanshkar (55) and Prabha (50).
Congress MLA from Datia, Rajendra Bharti, criticized the administration for the "slow" rescue operation, claiming that it was unprepared to deal with such situations.He also demanded Rs five lakh compensation each for the kin of the deceased, and Rs two lakh for the injured persons.
Senior BJP leader and former state home minister Narottam Mishra also visited the spot, and expressed grief over the incident. He attended the last rites of the victims.
