Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, paid a visit to Indore on Friday, one day after the devastating temple stepwell disaster that claimed 36 lives.
At about 11 a.m. on Thursday, the concrete slab roof above an old stepwell (or "bavdi") collapsed at the Beleshwar Jhulelal Mahadev Temple in the city's Patel Nagar neighborhood. For several hours, several people were confined inside.
According to reports, the collapse was caused by overcrowding on the grounds of the temple.
The number of fatalities from Thursday's tragedy now stands at 35 following the early morning extraction of 21 more bodies. The official death toll has increased to 36 following the recovery of another body, which has been determined to be that of 53-year-old Sunil Solanki.
With no chance of discovering any other bodies in the stepwell, the search operation is likely to end at this point. Following the process of dewatering the well (carrying water up to 13–14 feet), and with the assistance of the Army, the search efforts picked up speed. At a private hospital, Chief Minister Chouhan visited with the injured, including twin sisters.
Shiv Shankar Maurya, a local native, claimed that the square-shaped stepwell was 100 years old and that the temple was built about 50 years ago. The stepwell used to be open, but it was covered about 25 years ago, according to Maurya.
The resident claimed that the stepwell roof's construction was wholly illegal. Many devotees attended the havan event that the temple administration had planned, according to Maurya, who described the occurrence.
Some locals claimed that after the havan, worshippers stood up for the "aarti," at which point the temple's floor collapsed under the weight and killed 36 persons.
At least 35 people were killed after the roof of a stepwell in a temple complex collapsed in central India. The incident occurred as devotees gathered at the temple in Indore to celebrate the Hindu festival of Ram Navami https://t.co/aunWW0FNhe pic.twitter.com/Rmnq2bP7KB
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 31, 2023
