The death toll after a floor collapsed at a Hindu temple in India had risen to 35 on Friday, with rescue operations underway to find one person still missing, a local official told AFP.
Dozens of worshippers celebrating a major religious holiday plunged into the stepwell –- a stair-lined communal water source — on Thursday after the floor covering it collapsed in the central city of Indore.
“Thirty-five people are dead. One person is still missing. Rescue operations are on,” Indore district magistrate Ilayaraja T. told AFP by phone.
A witness at the scene told AFP that rescuers were working to determine whether or not one more person reported missing had also fallen down the well.
Women, children and an 18-month-old baby were among those standing on the grill covering the well when it buckled and gave way, plunging them into about 7.5 metres (25 feet) of water, the Times of India newspaper reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday he was “extremely pained”…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
