Nine children killed after wall collapses during religious event in India

Earth mover pressed into rescue action to remove debris and save other trapped children

At least nine children died after a wall collapsed on them during a religious event in India's Madhya Pradesh state on Sunday.

The children, aged between 10-15 years, were making religious figurines with clay as a part of a ceremony at a temple in Sagar district when the wall of the house next door collapsed.

The dilapidated house was nearly 50 years old and run down by heavy rain, the local administration said, according to NDTV.

An earth mover was pressed into the rescue action to remove the debris and save the trapped children.

"The children were sitting in a tent at the temple premises when the wall fell on them," district official Deepak Arya told local reporters.

"The wall's foundation became weak due to recent rainfall" and collapsed around 8.30am (local time), he added.

Several other children were rushed to a nearby hospital after sustaining injuries in the incident. "All the debris has been removed from the site of the incident," Mr Arya added.

The bodies were taken to Sagar district hospital for autopsy.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav announced a compensation of Rs400,000 (£3,728) each for kin of the dead and Rs100,000 (£932) to the injured.

"I have directed the district administration to provide proper treatment to the injured children,” he said in a statement.

The wall collapsed in Sagar just a day after four other children were killed after a wall of an abandoned building crumbled in the state's Rewa district. The students, aged 5-7 years, died while returning home from school, authorities said.

The local police on Saturday arrested two owners of the run down building.

At least 200 people have died in Madhya Pradesh in rain-related incidents during the monsoon season of 2024.

Meanwhile, seven people died and another 40 sustained injuries after a bus fell into a ditch in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The double-decker bus, en route capital Delhi, collided with a car coming from the wrong direction on the highway during the early hours.

At least four out of the 60 passengers on the bus died in the incident along with all three people in the car.