Indore death toll touches 36 as 22 more bodies fished out
Bodies Were Found Stacked In 50-Ft-Deep Well
- Indore: The death toll in the Indore temple stepwell collapse rose to 36 on Friday, with Army personnel retrieving 22 more bodies from the muddy depths in a night- long operation. Two civic officials, meanwhile, were sus pended and the office-bearers of the temple trust booked for culpable homicide.
- Twenty-one of those killed were women. There were three children among the dead, including a one- and-a-half-year-old boy whose parents could only watch in horror as he plunged into the well just inches away from them. His body was among the last to be found as the dead were stacked on top of each other in the 50-foot-deep well.
- "The well was shaped like a bucket it was wide at the top but only 10x10 feet at the bottom, because of which people were stuck on top of each other and trapped under the Celebris," said NDRF head constable Chandan Mishra (39), a deep diver who spent 20 relentless hours on the rescue op. After a long pause, he said: "The hardest part was to retrieve the bodies of the children."
- At the funeral of the youngest victim, 1.5-year-old Hitansh, hundreds wept as his father carried his body in a little bundle. Family members and Neighbours followed clutching his toys and tricycle.
- "He looked so peaceful as he lay there while we prepared for the final rites. We expected him to get up and play pranks like he used to do every time," said his uncle.
- Madhya Pradesh chiefs Shivraj Singh Chouhan met the bereaved families and those in hospital and assured them all help from the government. He visited the accident site and ordered a statewide survey of stepwells to identify those that have been covered and illegal constructions built on them, as in the Baleshwar Mahadev Juella temple. All borewells will also be inspected so that the open ones can be plugged.
- As the Patel Nagar locality tearfully watched a train of funeral processions on Friday, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) sus- pended building officer PR Aroliya and building inspector Prabhat Tiwari of Zone 18.
- TOI had reported on Fri- day how IMC had ordered the removal of the slab in January, warning that it was dangerous, but had to backtrack in the face of opposition as it would "hurt religious sentiments".