On Thursday, during a 'havan' programme celebrating Ram Navami at the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Indore, the slab on top of an ancient stepwell collapsed. This led to several devotees falling into the water reservoir below. The temple had been built four decades ago over the square-shaped stepwell that measured around 20 ft x 20 ft. The incident occurred in Patel Nagar and the death toll has now risen to 35 with one person still missing. A search and rescue mission is currently being carried out with assistance from the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). So far, all the bodies have been recovered except for the one missing person.
The Indore District Magistrate, Dr. Ilayaraja T, confirmed that the search operation is nearing completion but due to the silt in the well, efforts are being made to clear it out to locate the missing person. Eyewitnesses reported that the process of recovering bodies and sending them to the hospital for post-mortem intensified after 11:30 pm on Thursday. Sixteen people who were injured have been admitted to the hospital, and two others were sent home after receiving first aid.
At first, the rescue operation faced difficulties because the temple was constructed in a confined area, and authorities had to demolish a wall to create a passage to lower a pipe for water pumping from the well. An eyewitness claimed that during the religious programme, the temple's floor caved in due to the massive crowd that had gathered and the weight it had to bear. Local residents shared that the temple had been constructed by covering the ancient stepwell with a slab.
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