Six members of a family, including two infants, were killed after a nearly century-old house collapsed during heavy rains in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district early Thursday, police said.
Three more people, including two children, died in separate wall and house collapse incidents in Barabanki and Saharanpur, taking the toll in rain-related incidents in the state to nine.
The incident in Pratapgarh occurred around 2 am in Mahuli Bazaar, about three km from the Pratapgarh district headquarters.
Circle Officer (City) Ashutosh Mishra said the incident took place when seven members of the family were sleeping in a single room of the old house. Only one family member, identified as Aman (28), managed to crawl out of the rubble and raised an alarm following which locals rushed to the spot and informed the police.
Children among victims
Those killed were identified as Pramod Srivastava (60), his wife Rita (55), their son Nitin (25), daughter-in-law Madhuri (24), wife of their elder son Aman, and Aman's two sons, Madhav (2) and 10-month-old Advik.
Police, assisted by the fire service personnel, launched a rescue operation and pulled out all those trapped under the debris. The injured were taken to the government medical college, where doctors declared six of them dead, Mishra said.
Police have sent the bodies for postmortem and further investigation is on.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Pratapgarh incident and directed the district administration and the chief medical officer to ensure proper treatment for Aman.
In a post on X, the Chief Minister conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls and the speedy recovery of the injured. He also reviewed the situation with administrative officials after the incident.
In Barabanki district, two siblings were killed and three other children injured after an old brick wall collapsed on them while they were playing in Aliyabad village this morning, police said.
Circle Officer (City) Saurabh Srivastava said five children were playing in a village lane when the wall caved in, trapping them under the debris. Villagers rescued the children and rushed them to the district hospital.
Huzaifa (7) and his 14-year-old sister Hajra Bano were declared dead, while three other children identified as Hassan (8), Hania (4), and Adnan (14) were admitted to a hospital, police said.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem and an inquiry has been initiated. Officials said strict action would be taken if the probe establishes negligence. Villagers alleged the wall was in a dilapidated condition and had weakened further due to continuous rain.
Another woman killed as mud house caves in
In another incident, a 35-year-old woman died after a mud house collapsed in Ghaghreki village in Saharanpur district on Wednesday night.
Station House Officer Devesh Kumar Sharma said the woman was trapped under the debris after the house collapsed around 11.30 pm amid heavy rain. She was pulled out by police and local residents and taken to a primary health centre, where doctors declared her dead.
The body has been sent for postmortem.