Father son duo drown in pond
Eyewitnesses said that Govinda Nag, a cook, was in an intoxicated state when he took his son for a swimming lesson to the nearby pond.
At least 15 people were killed and several others were injured after a portion of the compound wall of a housing society collapsed on shanties adjacent to it in Kondhwa in Maharashtra’s Pune shortly after midnight on Saturday.
The shanties were set up for labourers working in a nearby construction site.
Among the dead are four children and two women.
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Officials stated that incessant rains might have led to the collapse of the wall.
According to the police, a portion of the 12 to 15-feet-high wall collapsed between 1.30 and 1.45 am.
The fire brigade, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and police rushed to the spot to carry out rescue operations.
“At least 15 people — nine men, two women and four children — have been killed in the incident, and three got injured,” an officer of Kondhwa police station said.
According to the fire brigade officials, the victims were natives of either Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.
All the injured were shifted to hospital and District Collector Naval Kishore Ram visited the spot of the incident.
He said the wall had collapsed due to heavy rainfall and added that negligence of the construction company had come to light with the incident.
An inquiry has been ordered into the incident and strict action will be taken against those responsible, Ram added.
Meanwhile, Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham said his team was investigating the matter. He said the police was probing whether proper permissions were taken by the construction firm and safety measures were followed.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed grief over the death of the people.
Extremely saddened to know about loss of lives in the Kondhwa, Pune wall collapse incident.
My deepest condolences to the families and prying for speedy recovery of the injured.
Directed Pune Collector to conduct an in-depth enquiry.— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 29, 2019
Heavy rains lashed Pune on Thursday and Friday, receiving 73.1 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, the second highest rainfall in June since 2010.
Total rainfall for June currently stands at 134.3 mm, an IMD official said.
Eight people were killed and five injured in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra on Friday.
Early Saturday morning, a wall collapsed on an auto-rickshaw in Mumbai’s Chembur. However, there were no reports of any injuries.
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