The incident occurred in the Shri Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple in Indore, Madhya Pradesh...
Digital Desk: At least 35 persons were killed on Thursday after falling into a stepwell at a shrine in Madhya Pradesh after the floor covering crumbled.
The incident occurred in the Shri Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
According to the state's Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the stepwell's covering collapsed "due to the heavy load" on top.
Thursday was Rama Navami, a festival commemorating the birth of Lord Ram that is often marked by devotees visiting temples and performing religious chants or songs.
Later that evening, senior district official Ilayaraja T addressed the reporters that 35 bodies had been recovered, with one person still missing and 16 people injured.
"There's a lot of silt here. We'll do another round of searches after we finish de-silting," he said.
The army is assisting in the rescue, as are federal and state disaster response teams.
"Despite our best efforts, we were unable to save many lives," Chouhan said, adding that he had ordered an inquiry into the incident.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the deceased and their families.
Modi expressed his 'extreme pain' over the incident on Twitter.
Chouhan stated that the government will compensate the injured and relatives of the deceased.
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