2 killed, 12 injured as water tank collapses in Mathura
Mathura (UP), Jun 30: Two people died and 12 others were seriously injured on Sunday after a water tank in a residential colony here collapsed, officials said.
The incident took place at around 6 pm in Krishna Vihar Colony, developed by the Uttar Pradesh Awas Vikas Parishad, they said.
The casualties are likely to rise as some people, including children, got buried under the debris of the 2.5 lakh litre tank, the officials said, adding some nearby houses also came under the rubble.
District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar Singh said the injured were taken to the district hospital for treatment.
Apart from the fire service and police personnel, teams of revenue, municipal corporation, and health department are engaged in the rescue work, the DM said, adding that teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been called.
Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Yogendra Pandey confirmed that two persons have died, but could not provide the details of the dead.
He said that the work of removing the debris is still going on and several people are still trapped under it.
Two people have died and a dozen have been admitted to the hospital, pandey added.
Dr Bhudev Prasad, in-charge of the Rapid Response Team of the Health Department, said that initially four injured were rescued from the debris, but now this number has reached a dozen. It is likely that more people are still trapped in the debris, he added.
The DM said the construction of the water tank was completed in 2021 and its collapse in just three years will be investigated.
He also said the tank was built by the Jal Nigam at a cost of Rs 6 crore under the Gangajal Drinking Water Project.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
