Death toll in Madhya Pradesh's Datia Fort wall collapse rises to 7

The death toll in Madhya Pradesh's Datia Fort's wall collapse has risen to seven, while two persons have been rescued from the rubble.

Five out of the seven deceased belonged to one family. Those rescued are admitted to a hospital in Gwalior and their conditions are said to be critical.

The wall that collapsed and killed seven persons was part of a centuries-old fort known as 'Rajgarh Ka Quila' in Datia.

The building was already in a dilapidated condition for several years and the heavy rains in last two days resulted in its collapse earlier on Thursday.

Former Minister Narottam Mishra, who represented Datia Assembly constituency thrice (before he lost in 2023), said that he has apprised Chief Minister Mohan Yadav about the tragic incident.

Mishra claimed that the Chief Minister has assured to provide an ex gratia sum of Rs four lakh to the kins of each deceased and better medical treatment for those who received injuries in the incident.

The incident occurred at around 4 a.m. on Thursday, and two persons were rescued by local residents. Local police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were called in and the rescue operation was carried out for over eight hours.

As the surrounding area of the building was encroached, the rescue operation was slow to progress.

However, the rescue operation sped up after heavy amount of debris was pushed out through JCB machines. As the old fort was built using big stones, pushing them out manually was not easy.

Chief Minister Yadav, who chaired an emergency meeting with District Collectors to take stock of the situation, said excessive rain has caused flood-like situation in several parts of the state.

He said that the district administration has been asked to stay alert. "I would also request people of Madhya Pradesh to stay alert to avoid untoward incident," CM Yadav said.

(With inputs from IANS)