UP rain tragedy: Six killed in Kanpur, Budaun and Ballia incidents
Six people were killed in separate rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, Budaun and Ballia districts on Sunday. Four members of a family died after their house collapsed in Kanpur, while a farmer and a six-year-old girl died in separate incidents
Kanpur/Budaun (UP): In a tragic incident, a man and three of his minor daughters were killed, while another daughter was seriously injured after their house collapsed amid rain in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district on Sunday, police said.
In Budaun district, a farmer was buried under debris and died on the spot, while his wife sustained serious injuries after a wall of their house collapsed due to heavy rains at night, police said.
In Ballia district, a six-year-old girl was killed on Sunday morning when a mud wall fell on her in Naferpur village, police said.
Kanpur’s Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal told PTI that in Hirni village, all five members of a family were trapped under the debris after their “kutcha” house collapsed around 11 am.
Police, fire brigade personnel and locals rescued the family members and took them to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Patara, where four were declared dead.
The victims were identified as Mukesh Kumar and his daughters Maya (17), Neetu (seven) and Pallavi (five). Another daughter of Kumar, Kajal, was seriously injured in the incident and is undergoing treatment at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital (LLR) in Kanpur, police said.
Three fire tenders equipped with rescue equipment and a mobile disaster-response vehicle were deployed at the spot. The exact cause of the collapse is being investigated, the police commissioner told PTI.
The front portion of the “kutcha” house was completely damaged, while a room-like structure in the rear portion was partially damaged, police said.
Kumar’s cousin Tej Bahadur Singh alleged police negligence, claiming that the family repeatedly called the Saadh police station after the collapse, but the calls were initially not answered.
He said villagers had to launch a rescue operation themselves and worked for nearly two hours to pull the trapped family members out.
The family also alleged that treatment at the Patara CHC was delayed as no doctor was available when the victims were taken there. They demanded an impartial inquiry into the alleged lapses and action against those responsible.
According to the family, Kajal alias Laxmi was due to get married in December.
The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post-mortem, police said.
In Budaun, heavy rains late on Saturday night caused the wall of a farmer’s “kutcha” house to collapse in Gurgaon village under the Musajhag police station area, burying him under the debris and killing him on the spot. His wife sustained serious injuries, police said.
Musajhag Station House Officer (SHO) Manoj Kumar said the deceased was identified as Vinod (35), who was sleeping with his family members when the wall collapsed.
Alerted by the loud crash, villagers rushed to the scene and began clearing the debris to rescue those trapped underneath. However, Vinod had already died by then. The villagers pulled his injured wife out of the rubble.
Police sent the body for post-mortem and had the injured woman admitted to a hospital.
In Ballia, a six-year-old girl died after a mud wall fell on her in Naferpur village in the Chitbaragaon police station area. According to police, the girl, identified as Kirti Rajbhar, had gone to a grocery store to buy biscuits.
On her way home, a mud wall suddenly collapsed, trapping her underneath the debris. Villagers rushed to the spot and pulled her out. The girl died while being taken to a hospital in Rasra.
The deceased was from Nasirpur Kala village and was visiting her maternal grandparents in Naferpur. Police have sent the body for post-mortem.
