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Nine children were killed and two others injured after a wall of a dilapidated house collapsed in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district on Sunday, a senior official said.
The incident took place between 8.30 am and 9 am near the campus of a temple during a religious programme in Shahpur village under Rehli assembly seat, as per officials.
According to the information received so far, nine children, aged 10 to 15 years, have been killed and two injured in the wall collapse incident at the religious programme in Shahpur, Sagar Divisional Commissioner Virendra Singh Rawat told PTI over phone.
Senior officials, including the district collector, have reached the spot, he added.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the incident and announced a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased.
A programme of "Parthiv Shivling Nirman" (making Shivling out of clay) was going on under a tent near the dilapidated house and a wall collapsed and fell on the tent, local BJP MLA and former minister Gopal Bhargava told reporters.
The children got crushed under the tent and debris, he said.
Several of the deceased were the only child of their parents, Bhargava said.
District Collector Deepak Arya said the children were sitting under a tent near a temple and the house wall collapsed due to rains.
Two children died on the spot while seven others succumbed on way to hospital or on reaching the medical facility, he said.
Arya said two other children were injured in the incident and undergoing treatment at the district hospital. They were out of danger, he added.
The deceased have been identified as Dhruv Yadav (12), Nitesh Patel (13), Ashutosh Prajapati (15), Prince Sahu (12), Parv Vishwakarma (10), Divyansh Sahu (12), Dev Sahu (12), Vansh Lodhi (10) and Hemant (10), according to officials.
CM Yadav in a post on X said, "I am saddened to hear the news of 9 innocent children dying after the collapse of the wall of a dilapidated house due to heavy rains in Shahpur of Sagar district. I have directed the district administration to provide proper treatment to the injured children."
He also prayed for the speedy recovery of the other children injured in the incident.
"The families of the deceased children will be given financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each by the government," the CM stated.