Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Screams of the victims rend the air as the concrete flooring on the Bawdi at the Beleshwar Mahadev temple caved-in plunging over two and half dozen devotees into it. Locals had gathered there to perform hawan at the temple to mark Ram Navami.
Residents of Patel Nagar said they rushed to the spot and started rescue operations at their level. They got ropes and sarees from nearby houses and pulled out the injured from the well. It took the authorities an hour to reach the spot, residents said.
Resident Jagdish Patel informed Free Press that many people from his family were at the temple. Some of them were rescued, but some are still missing. He said that his daughter-in-law who was at the temple at the time of the tragedy said the entire flooring of the bawdi was packed with devotees and most of them fell into the well when the flooring collapsed.
Jagdish alleged that the fire brigade and ambulance reached the spot 1.15 hours after the incident so the residents had to face many difficulties in the rescue operation as they did not have the proper equipment. The residents said that the bawdi is about 50 feet deep and it was closed 40 years ago after some accidents in it. There was 10 feet of water in the bawdi.
DESPERATE SEARCH FOR VICTIMS IN HOSPITAL
All the injured were rushed to the nearby Apple Hospital after being rescued. But there was chaos in the hospital as the staff was overwhelmed by the number of injured and were unable to give any information about those injured. The tense relatives started showing the photographs of the victims to the hospital staff to know whether they had been admitted there. Later, the hospital administration wrote down the names of the injured who had been admitted to the hospital and put it up on the notice board.
Four cops stationed at mortuary
Four cops were stationed at the MY Hospital mortuary so that the papers could be processed quickly and the bodies could be handed over to the relatives. Eight bodies had reached MY Hospital by 6 pm, but the autopsy continued late into the night.
Police confirm 12 deaths, admin says 14 have died
Police confirmed the death of 12 people including 11 women, while the district administration said 14 people have died. The rescue operation was on till the filing of the report. The water was being drained from the bawdi. According to the police, the deceased have been identified as Madhu Bamnani (47), a resident of Sarvoday Nagar, Bharti Kukreja (60) of Sadhu Waswani Nagar, Daksha Patel (33) of Patel Nagar, Inder Kumar Harwani (56), a resident of Sadhu Waswani Nagar, Manisha Motwani (23) of Sadhu Waswani Nagar, Jaywanti Khubchandani (60) of Sneh Nagar, Laxmiben Patel (56) of Patel Nagar, Gangaben Patel (65) of Patel Nagar, Bhumika Khanchandani (30) of Limbodi area, Kanak Patel (48) of Patel Nagar, Pushpaben Patel (48) of the Sneh Nagar area and Karishma Washwani (24), a resident of Sarvoday Nagar area of the city.
